President Donald Trump's administration has officially removed al-Nusrah Front, also called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, from the list of foreign terrorist organisations as per a State Department memo released on Monday, marking a significant move in the United States' effort to ease sanctions on Syria.

The memo was dated June 23 and signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and appeared in the preview section of the Federal Register ahead of its official release on Tuesday.

This step comes one week after President Trump signed an executive order that ended a US sanctions program on Syria which was aimed at reducing the country’s isolation from the global financial system and was part of Washington’s broader promise to support Syria's reconstruction after a long civil war.

“In consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, I hereby rescind the designation of al-Nusrah Front, also referred to as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (and other names) as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation,” Rubio stated in the memo.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, was once the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda and was earlier known as the Nusra Front.

In December, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa took control of HTS which, along with other Islamist rebel groups, launched a fast-paced military campaign that led to the removal of Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa's group HTS had ended its association with al-Qaeda several years ago and has said that its goal is to build an inclusive and democratic Syria.

So far the Syrian foreign ministry has not issued any statement.

In May, Sharaa met with President Trump in Riyadh where Trump made an unexpected announcement about lifting sanctions on Syria which marked a major policy shift and led to a significant rollback of US restrictions.