On Friday, the Biden administration announced that it has decided not to follow through with the $10 million reward it had offered for the capture of a Syrian rebel leader. This leader's forces played a key role in the removal of President Bashar Assad earlier this month.

The declaration came after U.S. ambassador Barbara Leaf, who led the first U.S. diplomatic team into Syria since Assad's overthrow, met with Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, in Damascus. Ahmad al-Sharaa was formerly affiliated with al-Qaida. HTS is still considered a foreign terrorist organisation, and Leaf did not confirm if the sanctions related to this designation would be lifted. However, she mentioned to reporters that al-Sharaa had promised to renounce terrorism, and as a result, the US would no longer offer the reward. “We discussed the critical need to ensure terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside Syria or externally, including to the US and our partners in the region,” she said.

In a phone news conference from Jordan, where she had travelled after visiting Syria, Leaf stated, "Based on our discussion, I told him that we would not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice reward offered." Leaf and other US officials have acknowledged al-Sharaa's public statements about protecting minority and women's rights, but they are doubtful he will actually follow through on them in the long term. She described him as pragmatic, saying it was a good first meeting. However, she emphasised that they will judge him based on actions, not just words. The purpose of the US delegation's visit was to inquire about the whereabouts of Austin Tice, a missing American journalist, and to advocate for an inclusive administration.

The discussions with interim leaders and civil society activists were attended by Leaf, former special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein and Roger Carstens, the Biden administration's main envoy for hostage negotiations. Carstens stated that there is no new information about Tice's fate or where he is, but promised that the search for him will continue. “He travelled previously to Lebanon to seek information. More US officials are expected to visit Syria in the coming days to pick up the search,” he said. Carstens stated that the US was concentrating on roughly six jails where it thought Tice might have previously been detained, and that "we're going to be like bulldogs on this." Up to 40 locations may ultimately be investigated for evidence of Tice's presence, he said, adding that the US also has information regarding three additional prisons where Tice may have been housed.

Tice, a journalist whose work has been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers, and others, vanished at a checkpoint in a disputed area west of Damascus as the Syrian civil war was escalating. A video released a few weeks after he went missing showed Tice blindfolded and held by armed men, saying, "Oh, Jesus." He has not been heard from since. The Syrian government, led by Assad, has publicly denied that it is holding him. Leaf's team was the first group of American diplomats to visit Syria officially in over ten years since the US closed its embassy in Damascus in 2012. However, a few US diplomats have been working in political advisory roles with military units inside Syria since then.

Ahead of the delegation's arrival in Damascus, the US military announced that it had carried out airstrikes in northeastern Syria on Thursday, killing an Islamic State group leader and one other militant. According to a statement from Central Command, the strike was part of a larger operation to stop IS militants from exploiting the chaos in Syria, including any plans to free the more than 8,000 IS captives who are being held captive by Kurds who have allied with the US. 

On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that the US had increased its forces in Syria to fight ISIS, bringing the total number to around 2,000. This move was made before the fall of Assad's government. US officials said that while diplomats are visiting Damascus, it does not mean the US embassy will be reopened right away. The embassy is currently being protected by the Czech government. Decisions on whether to recognise the new Syrian government will be made once the new authorities in Syria make their intentions clear.