File Photo: Members of Al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras al-Din. Photo courtesy of social media.
In a statement online Tuesday, the group announced "the dissolution of the Hurras al-Din organisation", adding that the move followed a decision from "the general command of Al-Qaeda".
The statement was the first time the group, which is on Washington's "terror" list, had officially identified itself as "the branch of Al-Qaeda" in Syria.
Hurras al-Din said the decision came "in light of developments" in Syria, where a insurgent alliance led by Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Assad on December 8 after a lightning offensive.
HTS has said that it wants all armed groups in the country to disband.
Hurras al-Din, whose members include foreign jihadists, had been based in mountainous areas of northwest Syria, where insurgent and militant groups were stationed before the late November offensive.
Tuesday's statement urged Sunni Muslims in Syria to remain armed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said Hurras al-Din "announced its dissolution so as not to enter into armed conflict with HTS".
HTS cut ties with the Al-Nusra Front, Syria's former Al-Qaeda branch, in 2016.
The US-based SITE Intelligence Group said Hurras al-Din was founded in February 2018.
The United States designated Hurras al-Din as a "terrorist" organisation in 2019 and has offered financial rewards for information on several of its members.
The US military said last year that a September 24 strike in northwest Syria killed nine "terrorist operatives", including senior Hurras al-Din leader Marwan Bassam 'Abd-al-Ra'uf.
A month earlier, the US military said it killed Abu Abdul Rahman al-Makki, describing him as "a Hurras al-Din Shura Council member and senior leader responsible for overseeing terrorist operations from Syria".
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