DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Oman has stepped up its mediation efforts in hopes of releasing Americans allegedly detained in Syria through mediation at the request of the U.S., according to Intelligence Online.
The report said that the recent strategic dialogue session between the U.S. and Oman, held on 8 November, addressed the sensitive issue of Americans it insists are detained in Syria, including independent journalist and former Marine Corps officer Austin Tice.
The development comes as Syria has dismissed allegations of holding American nationals, including Tice, who disappeared a decade ago while reporting on the foreign-sponsored conflict in the Arab country.
The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement in August that Damascus “denies that it has kidnapped or is hiding any American citizens who entered its territory or resided in areas under the sovereignty and authority of the Syrian government.”
“The U.S. administration, represented by President [Joe Biden] and Secretary of State [Antony Blinken], issued last week misleading and illogical statements that included baseless accusations against Syria that it had kidnapped or detained American citizens including former US Marine Austin Tice,” it said.
While the meeting discussed developing artificial intelligence, automatic control tools and strengthening the Omani intelligence apparatus as bilateral priorities between the two countries, the meeting also addressed the issue of U.S. hostages in Syria.
The website indicated that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke openly to his Omani counterpart, Sayyid Badr Bin Hamad Bin Hamood al-Busaidi, about his desire for Muscat to act as a mediator in talks with the Syrian government about the crisis.
Al-Busaidi visited Damascus and met with the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in December 2021 to deliver a message from Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq about Tice. Tice went missing in Syria in 2012.
The report pointed out that Oman was the first regional country to reopen its embassy in Syria in October 2020.
The website indicated that Washington’s request for Muscat’s mediation in this matter came after the decline in U.S. confidence in the director of Lebanese General Security Service, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, who had played the main role of mediator.
According to the report, the U.S.-Omani strategic dialogue session on 8 November was preceded by a meeting on 2 November of the same month chaired by Deputy Prime Minister for Defense Affairs Shihab Bin Tariq al-Said, the brother of the country’s sultan, along with Muhammad Al-Nu’mani, the head of the sultan’s court, for the Omani side. He is a senior figure who oversees the intelligence and state security apparatus in the sultanate and has already begun negotiations on the issue of the hostages.