White House Envoy Met Syrian Official Over American Hostages
- U.S. official discussed Austin Tice, Majd Kamalmaz in Damascus
- Trump has been trying to wind down U.S. deployments in Mideast
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A top White House official went to Damascus this summer to negotiate the release of two American hostages, according to two people familiar with the matter, a rare sign of diplomacy between the U.S. and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Kash Patel, a top White House counterterrorism official, met with an undisclosed Syrian official to discuss the release of American journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted eight years ago while on assignment in Syria, and Syrian-American therapist Majd Kamalmaz, who disappeared in 2017 after being stopped at a government checkpoint.