Biden’s top hostage envoy Roger Carstens in Syria to ask for help finding Austin Tice
Roger Carstens, the Biden administration’s top official on the release of Americans held abroad, arrived in Damascus, Syria, on Friday on a high-risk mission: He made the first known face-to-face contact with the interim government and asked for help in the search missing American journalist Austin Tice.
Tice was kidnapped 12 years ago during Syria’s civil war and brutal rule The now overthrown Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. For years, U.S. officials have said they did not know for sure whether Tice was still alive, where he was being held or by whom.
The State Department’s top diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, accompanied Carstens to Damascus in a sign of broader outreach Hay’at Tahrir al-Shamknown as HTS, the rebel group that recently toppled Assad’s regime and is emerging as a leading power.
Daniel Rubinstein, senior advisor for the Middle East, was also with the delegation. They are the first American diplomats to visit Damascus in over a decade, according to a State Department spokesman.
They plan to meet with HTS officials to discuss transition principles supported by the U.S. and regional partners in Aqaba, Jordan, the spokesman said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Aqaba last week to meet with Middle Eastern leaders and discuss the situation in Syria.
While finding and freeing Tice and other American citizens who have disappeared below the Assad regime is the ultimate goal, U.S. officials are downplaying expectations of a breakthrough on this trip. Multiple sources told CBS News that Carsten and Leaf’s intention was to convey U.S. interests to senior HTS leaders and find out as much as possible about Tice.
Rubinstein will lead U.S. diplomacy in Syria and work directly with the Syrian people and key parties in Syria, the State Department spokesman added.
Diplomatic engagement with HTS comes at an uncertain time in an uncertain, war-torn region. Two sources even compared the potential threat to the expeditionary diplomacy of the late U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who led operations against rebels in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 and was killed in a terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound and intelligence post.
U.S. special forces called JSOC provided security for the delegation as it traveled in a vehicle across the Jordanian border and en route to Damascus. The convoy was assured by HTS that it would be granted safe passage during its stay in Syria, but there remains a risk of attacks from other terrorist groups, including ISIS.
CBS News withheld publication of this story for security reasons at the request of the State Department.
The deployment of senior American diplomats to Damascus represents a significant step toward restoring U.S.-Syrian relations following the overthrow of the Assad regime less than two weeks ago. The U.S. Embassy in Damascus has ceased operations since 2012, shortly after that Assad’s regime brutally crushed an uprising that led to a 14-year civil war and forced 13 million Syrians to flee the country in one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.
The U.S. officially designated HTS, which had ties to al-Qaeda, as a foreign terrorist organization in 2018. Its leader, Mohammed al Jolani, was designated a terrorist by the US in 2013 and was previously in a US prison in Iraq.
Since the fall of Assad, HTS has publicly expressed interest in a new, more moderate course. Al Jolani even lost his Nomine de Guerre and now uses his official name, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
U.S. sanctions against HTS related to these terrorist designations make public outreach somewhat difficult, but have not prevented American officials from making direct contact with HTS at President Biden’s direction. Blinken recently confirmed that US officials were in contact with HTS representatives before Carstens and Leaf’s visit.
“We have heard positive statements from Mr. Jolani, the leader of HTS,” Blinken told Bloomberg News on Thursday. “But everyone is focused on what is actually happening on the ground. What do you do? Are they working to build an inclusive transition in Syria?”
In the same interview, Blinken also appeared to consider the possibility that the U.S. could help lift sanctions imposed by the United Nations against HTS and its leader if HTS builds what he called an inclusive, nonsectarian government and eventually holds elections. The Biden administration is not expected to lift the U.S. terrorist designation before the end of the president’s term on January 20.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder announced Thursday that the U.S. currently has about 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in Syria to defeat ISIS. That’s a far higher number than the 900 troops the Biden administration previously admitted. There are at least five US military bases in the north and south of the country.
The Biden administration is concerned about this Thousands of ISIS prisoners The man held in a camp called al-Hol was released. It is currently guarded by the Syrian Democratic Forces, Kurdish allies of the US wary of the newly powerful HTS. Since Russia and Iran withdrew their military support from the Assad regime, the situation on the ground has changed rapidly, reshaping the balance of power. Turkey, which has at times been a problematic U.S. ally, acted as an intermediary for HTS and is emerging as a power broker.
A high-risk mission like this is unusual for the typically risk-averse Biden administration, which has consistently displayed cautious diplomacy. Blinken approved Carstens and Leaf’s trip and relevant congressional leaders were informed about it days ago.
“I think it’s important to have direct communication, it’s important to speak as clearly as possible, listen and make sure that we understand as best as possible where they are going and where they want to go,” Blinken said Thursday .
At a press conference Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow on Thursday that he had not yet met with Assad, who fled to Russia after his regime was toppled earlier this month. Putin added that he would ask Assad about Austin Tice when they met.
Tice, a Marine Corps veteran, worked for several news organizations, including CBS News.