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.