U.S. Official Met With Syrian Officials to ‘Secure Americans’ Release’: Report

Date: 19 October 2020 - 21:31

News ID: ۸۳۹۸۹

DAMASCUS (Press TV) – A senior White House official traveled to Syria earlier this year to allegedly help release a number of Americans, who are reportedly held by Damascus, the Wall Street Journal says.
The U.S. official who travelled to Syria was identified as Kash Patel, a deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, the US official, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters news agency, confirming the Wall Street Journal report.
WSJ, citing Trump administration officials and others familiar with the negotiations, described Patel’s trip as the first time in more than a decade that a high-level U.S. official met with government officials of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
The purported talks, the Journal said, was expected to help release Austin Tice and Majd Kamalmaz.
The daily said Tice was what it called a "freelance journalist” and former Marine officer and Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American "therapist.”
Observers say notwithstanding the titles that American officials and sources assign to the U.S. nationals -- who strangely happen to be present in conflict zones at critical junctures -- many are later found to be on the payroll of Washington’s military or intelligence apparatus and tasked with sabotage.
These have included the White Helmets, a Western-backed so-called aid group active in Syria that is blamed by Damascus and its ally Russia for staging false flag chemical attacks inside the Arab country to justify foreign intervention.
The Journal reported that Trump wrote Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a private letter in March, proposing a "direct dialog” about Tice.
According to the U.S. daily, the reported talks have, however, not advanced far, with Damascus pressing Washington to withdraw all its forces from the Syrian soil.
The U.S. and its allies invaded Syria in 2014 under the pretext of fighting Daesh. The military presence continues to date, although Damascus and the countries supporting it defeated the Takfiri terrorist outfit in late 2017.
The U.S.-led presence has witnessed military build-up around Syria’s strategic areas, including the hugely sensitive al-Tanf border zone, where the Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian borders meet. The American forces have also deployed surprising numbers in the Arab country’s oil-rich east, prompting Damascus to decry the Trump administration’s attempt at expropriating Syria’s crude resources.