Biden’s top hostage envoy Roger Carstens in Syria to ask for help in finding Austin Tice
Roger Carstens, the Biden administration’s top official responsible for releasing Americans held overseas, arrived in Damascus, Syria, on Friday on a high-stakes mission: making the first known face-to-face contact with the caretaker government and seeking to Help find clues. Missing American journalist Austin Theis.
Tais was kidnapped 12 years ago during Syria’s civil war and brutal rule. Now-deposed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. For years, U.S. officials have said they were unsure whether Tice was still alive, where or by whom.
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, the State Department’s top diplomat for Middle East affairs, accompanied Carstens to Damascus as a sign of broader engagement. Tahrir al-ShamThe rebel group known as HTS recently overthrew Assad’s regime and is emerging as a leading force.
The delegation also included Daniel Rubinstein, senior adviser for the Near East. A U.S. State Department spokesman said they were the first U.S. diplomats to visit Damascus in more than a decade.
The spokesperson said they plan to meet with HTS representatives to discuss transition principles endorsed by the United States and partners in Jordan’s Aqaba region. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Been to Aqaba met with Middle Eastern leaders last week to discuss the situation in Syria.
In the search and release of Tice and other missing U.S. citizens Assad regime Toward the end, U.S. officials have played down expectations of a breakthrough from the visit. Multiple sources told CBS News that Carstens and Leaf’s purpose was to communicate U.S. interests to senior HTS leaders and learn everything there was to know about Theis.
The State Department spokesperson added that Rubinstein will lead U.S. diplomacy in Syria and engage directly with the Syrian people and Syria’s major political parties.
HTS’s diplomacy comes at an uncertain moment in a volatile, war-torn region. Two sources even compared the potential danger to the expeditionary diplomacy practiced by the late U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Stevens led outreach to rebels in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 and was killed in terrorist attacks on U.S. diplomatic residences and intelligence posts.
U.S. Special Operations Forces (Joint Special Operations Command) provided security for the delegation as they traveled by car across the Jordanian border and on the road to Damascus. HTS assured the convoy of safe passage while in Syria, but the threat of attacks from other terrorist groups, including the Islamic State, remains.
CBS News declined to publish this story at the request of the State Department due to security concerns.
Sending top U.S. diplomats to Damascus is an important step toward reopening U.S.-Syrian relations after the fall of Assad’s regime less than two weeks ago. Operations at the U.S. embassy in Damascus have been suspended since 2012, shortly after the Assad regime brutally suppressed an uprising that turned into a 14-year civil war and caused 13 million Syrians to flee the country. This is one of the world’s largest humanitarian disasters.
The United States officially designated HTS, which has ties to al-Qaeda, as a foreign terrorist organization in 2018. Its leader, Mohammad Jolani, was designated a terrorist by the United States in 2013 and had previously served a sentence in a U.S. prison in Iraq.
Since overthrowing Assad, HTS has publicly expressed interest in pursuing a new, more moderate path. Al Jolani even got rid of his war in name only Now using his legal name Ahmed Sala.
U.S. sanctions against HTS related to these terrorist claims have complicated outreach to an extent, but have not stopped U.S. officials from engaging directly with HTS at the direction of President Biden. Blinken recently confirmed that U.S. officials were in contact with HTS representatives ahead of Carstens and Leaf’s visit.
“We heard positive words from HTS leader Mr. Jolani,” Blinken told Bloomberg News on Thursday. “But what everyone is looking at is what’s actually happening on the ground, what are they doing? Are they trying to build a transition in Syria that involves everyone?”
In the same interview, Blinken also appeared to raise the possibility that the United States could help lift U.N. sanctions on HTS and its leaders if it establishes what he calls an inclusive, non-sectarian government and eventually holds elections. The Biden administration is not expected to remove the U.S.’s terrorist designation before the end of the president’s term on January 20.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder revealed on Thursday that the United States currently has about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria as part of the mission to defeat the Islamic State, a number far higher than the 900 U.S. troops previously acknowledged by the Biden administration. There are at least five US military bases in the north and south of the country.
Biden administration worries Thousands of Islamic State prisoners People held in a camp called al-Hol can be released. It is currently guarded by the US’s Kurdish allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, who are wary of the newly powerful HTS. Since Russia and Iran withdrew their military support for the Assad regime, the situation on the ground is changing rapidly and the balance of power has been reset. Türkiye has been a problematic U.S. ally at times, but it has been a conduit for HTS and is becoming a power broker.
Such a high-stakes mission is unusual for the traditionally risk-averse Biden administration, which has traditionally pursued restrained diplomacy. Blinken approved Carstens and Leaf’s visit, days after relevant congressional leaders were briefed on the situation.
“I think it’s important to have direct communication, to speak as clearly as possible, to listen, to make sure that we understand as well as possible where they’re going and where they want to go,” Blinken said Thursday.
in a press conference Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow on Thursday that he had not yet met Assad, who fled to Russia after his regime collapsed earlier this month. Putin added that he would ask Assad about Austin Theis when they meet.
Tice is a Marine Corps veteran who has worked for several news organizations, including CBS News.
