THE government will make “a swift decision” on whether to lift the ban on Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) after it swept to power in Syria, ousting president Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

HTS is banned in Britain because of its origins as a branch of al-Qaida, the terrorist organisation once led by Osama bin Laden.

Like a number of Syrian rebel groups, it claimed to have cut ties with al-Qaida to attract Western aid during the civil war. 

Its leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani currently claims to want an inclusive state tolerant of religious minorities, which would represent a Damascene conversion for the veteran of al-Qaida, Isis and the al-Nusra Front.

He was held in US prisons from 2006-11, being released to take part in the revolt against the Syrian government, much as the family of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi were assisted by British security forces to join the uprising against Colonel Muammar Gadaffi in Libya despite their affiliation to the banned Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.

Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden said “the situation is very fluid” but expressed hope that if there was a need to hold talks with HTS, “it should be a relatively swift decision.”

The Assad regime collapsed yesterday, following 13 years of civil war, when a coalition of rebel groups seized Damascus, with the former president fleeing to Russia.

Mr McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that HTS has “been proscribed for quite a long time now.

“But obviously, if the situation stabilises, there’ll be a decision to make about how to deal with whatever new regime is in place there.”

He also said there were “no plans” for the government to reconsider whether Shamima Begum, who has been living in a Syrian refugee camp, could return to Britain.