International powers seeking a peaceful transition in Syria will have to consider lifting the “terrorist” designations applied to the Islamist movement that led the rebellion to topple Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, a senior UN official has suggested.  

Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, told the Financial Times there was “no way to exclude” Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an offshoot of a former al-Qaeda affiliate that moved into Damascus after spearheading the lightning offensive that ended the Assad family’s half-century of rule over Syria. 

But he said lifting the “terrorist” designations applied by the US and the EU — which include travel bans and asset freezes on HTS — would depend on the rebels’ actions on the ground, and whether the group was willing to be “inclusive” in a new government.

“If it includes all Syrians, all Syrian communities, then I think that those who are dealing with these questions I’m sure will be willing to look at it [the designations] and to see if it is really a change that has taken place,” Pedersen said.  

US officials have said they are in touch with all Syrian groups and will judge HTS leaders by their actions.

“We will intend to engage with them appropriately and with US interests in mind,” said one US official, adding that the terrorist designation was something the US would “have to look to down the line”.

The EU on Monday called for an “orderly, peaceful and inclusive transition” that protected religious minorities, adding that it was backing Pedersen’s efforts. A decision to lift the HTS’s terrorist designation would have to be taken by unanimity among the EU’s 27 member states.

The German foreign ministry also said that Berlin’s stance towards HTS would be determined by the way the group treated minorities. It noted that Idlib, the city that has long been under HTS control, was “no democratic paradise”, where people had been imprisoned for “dissenting opinions [and] behaviour”.

The spectacularly swift collapse of the regime has left western and regional powers rushing to deal with the complexities of what comes next in a weak, hollowed-out state that is home to many armed factions, and with the prospect of an Islamist militant group being the key powerbroker.

Syria is blighted by a collapsed economy, with millions of people displaced from their homes and dependent on humanitarian assistance.

“There are new realities on the ground. Of course, there are many armed groups involved and HTS is obviously a significant one of them. There is no way we can exclude dealing with HTS,” Pedersen said.

“It doesn’t mean that it is not a challenge that they are a listed organisation. But with this reality, we need to make sure that we are not excluding any group so that there is an excuse to continue the fighting.”

HTS, the most powerful of the rebel groups that were fighting the regime, is led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. He renounced his links to al-Qaeda in 2016 and has sought to rebrand his group as a more moderate Islamist movement, but he is still listed as a terrorist by the UN and by western powers.

The designations mean that the UN has been unable to directly talk to HTS, which for much of the past decade ruled the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib that was one of the remaining rebel strongholds and home to between 3mn and 4mn people. HTS governed through a civilian-led administration in the province but ruled with an iron grip and imposed Islamist laws. 

During the offensive, Jolani reached out to tribes and former opponents and brokered surrender agreements with regime commanders, while ordering the protection of minorities as he sought to reassure Syrians about HTS’s intentions. 

But Pedersen said Syria could not be governed like Idlib. “That would not be possible — hopefully this is something understood.” 

“I think the question is whether HTS understand that they can’t rule Syria as HTS, that would create the same kind of challenges as you now see in Afghanistan with the Taliban,” he said. He added that from what was being said in public, there were signs that the group may “basically dismantle HTS and create a new entity. And we will follow this very closely.”

The critical factor, he said, would be involving all groups and sects in the fragile state, including elements of the former Assad regime. 

He said Syrian and international powers had to avoid the mistakes made after the US led the invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein and then purged the late dictator’s Ba’ath party from state institutions, creating a vacuum that was exploited by extremists. 

“Whatever we can do to make sure that there is an understanding between the opposition groups and whatever we call the existing arrangement in Damascus — [this] is extremely important, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Pedersen said.

He said that, so far, what Jolani has been saying has “been reassuring to communities”. The rebel leader declared on Sunday that Syrian state institutions would remain under the supervision of the Assad-appointed prime minister until a handover.

“They have tried to reach out,” Pedersen said. “But now the big question is do we enter a period of new instability or an era where he’s willing to share power, you develop representative structures, and you can end sanctions and start to rebuild Syria?”

Additional reporting by Guy Chazan in Berlin and Henry Foy and Laura Dubois in Brussels.