A group of American officials are inside The capital of Syria for the first time in more than ten years, looking for information about American citizens who disappeared under the Assad regime.
The team visiting Damascus includes U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) Barbara Leaf and NEA senior adviser Daniel Rubinstein, a State Department spokesperson, told Fox News Digital .
Rubinstein, who previously served as US special envoy for Syria and has decades of foreign affairs experience, will lead the diplomatic engagement, the spokesperson confirmed.
His mission is to engage with the Syrian people and the main parties in the country. He is also trying to coordinate with allies to advance the principles laid out earlier this month at a meeting of world leaders in the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
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Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) Barbara Leaf (left), US Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens (center) and NEA Senior Advisor Daniel Rubinstein (right) are in Damascus, Syria, for a diplomatic engagement, a Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs A spokesperson for the ministry told Fox News Digital (Alex Wong/Getty Images; Mehmet Serkan afak/Anadolu via Getty Images; Gali Tibbon-Pool/Getty Images)
The trio will meet with the Syrian people to discover their vision for their country after the Assad regime fell amid an ongoing civil war earlier this month. They will also wonder how the US can help them in their desired future.
“They will engage directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of various communities and other Syrian voices,” the spokesperson said in part.
The three officials will also meet with representatives of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a U.S.-designated terrorist group, to “discuss transition principles” endorsed by the United States and regional partners in Aqaba, Jordan, the State Department said.
Abu Mohamed al-Jolani leads the US-designated terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which took over Syria after the fall of the Assad regime. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously noted that world leaders discussed “the need for an inclusive, Syrian-led political transition” at the Aqaba Meetings on Syria in Jordan on December 14.
“The United States supports a future government in Syria that is elected by and representative of all Syrians,” Blinken said on X.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Turkey on December 13 to discuss bringing more stability to Syria amid competing rebel factions. (Getty Images)
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Another purpose of the visit is to determine what happened to American citizens who disappeared under the Assad regime, including former Marine turned freelance journalist Austin Tice. kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012.
Carstens is leading the charge to locate Tice and recently shared that Rewards for Justice is offering up to $10 million for information on his whereabouts.
The State Department’s Reward for Justice program is offering $10 million for information about Austin Tice. (The State Department’s Reward for Justice)
“Given recent events in Syria, the FBI renews our call for information that could lead to the safe location, recovery and return of Austin Bennett Tice who was detained in Damascus in August 2012,” the FBI said in a statement.
