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US Official in Syria for Talks on Missing Americans, Reports Say

Associated Press

   BEIRUT - A top U.S. official recently visited Syria for rare, secret
   high-level talks on securing the return of two Americans missing in the
   war-torn country for years, the daughter of one of them said Monday.

   The visit of Kash Patel, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and
   the top White House counterterrorism official, was first reported by
   The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

   There was no immediate U.S. comment on the reports.

   There has not been a confirmed visit by a high-level American official
   to Damascus since the U.S. shuttered its embassy in the capital and
   withdrew its ambassador in 2012 as the country's civil war worsened.

   However, numerous U.S. officials, both military and civilian, have
   traveled to rebel-held parts of the country in the years since.

   The visit would be seen as a boost by the internationally isolated
   government of President Bashar al-Assad, which faces U.S. and European
   sanctions for its role in the nine-year war. In recent months, as the
   war has subsided, a number of Arab countries that had boycotted Assad
   have begun reopening their embassies in Damascus.

   Majd Kamalmaz, a 62-year-old clinical psychologist from Virginia,
   disappeared in 2017 and is believed to be held in a Syrian government
   prison.

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