U.S. designates Hurras al-Din leader as global terrorist

The administration of President Joe Biden has designated the leader of an al-Qaida-affiliated jihadist group in Syria as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

The State Department designated Sami Mahmud Mohammed al Uraydi on Tuesday for being a leader of Hurras al-Din, which was designated by the United States in September of 2019.

According to the nonprofit, international policy Counter Extremism Project, Hurras al-Din formed in February 2018 with the merger of seven Syrian rebel factions with 10 more groups, all affiliated with al-Qaida, joining shortly after.

Though having been weakened following losses in 2019, it maintains links to al-Qaida members, who have enabled it “to pose a threat to U.S. and to other Western interests outside os Syria,” the Director of National Intelligence states on its website.

A reward of up to $5 million has been offered by the State Department’s Rewards for Justice office for information on al-Uraydi, who U.S. officials accuse of being involved in terrorist plots against the United States and Israel.

The State Department accuses the Jordanian citizen of being a senior sharia official of Hurras al-Din and a member of its shura senior decision-making body.

“The United States remains committed to disrupting al-Qaida affiliates who exploit under-governed spaces and conflict zones in Syria,” U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said Monday in a statement.

“Groups like Hurras al-Din (HaD) are responsible for killings, kidnappings and violence targeting of members of religious minority groups.”

The designation, which freezes all assets and property subject to U.S. jurisdiction under al Uraydi’s name, comes some nine months after the U.S. military killed Abu Hamzah al Yemeni, a senior Hurras al-Din leader, in a “kinetic strike in Syria’s Idlib province.

U.S. Central Command said that al Yemeni was traveling along on a motorcycle when he was hit.