For President Biden, the fall of Syria’s tyrant on Sunday was a moment to cheer what he called a “fundamental act of justice.” Biden is now presented with a challenge. The main rebel faction that toppled President Bashar al-Assad is a group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was once an affiliate of Al Qaeda and, even though it broke with the older organization years ago, remains designated a terrorist group itself by the U.S. government. So how does he make friends with these newly emerging forces in Syria? U.S. intelligence analysts and administration policymakers were trying to determine whether the groups had substantially changed, or were prepared to change, their ways to address the concerns of the United States and its allies in the region about terrorist affiliations.

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