Maldives lifts travel ban on Syria, drops HTS from list

6 hours ago

The Maldives has lifted a yearslong ban on travel to Syria, and removed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the armed group that led the 2024 offensive toppling the Assad regime – from its list of foreign terrorist organizations. The terror watchlist, required under the Counter-Terrorism Act, had been a secretive document maintained by the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) up until