Missing Marine vet Austin Tice’s release part of White House official’s secret Syria visit – By Sarah El Deeb and Ben Fox (The Associated Press) / Oct 19 2020
WASHINGTON — A senior White House official made an unusual, secret visit to Syria for high-level talks aimed at securing the release of two Americans who have been missing for years amid the Syria’s long civil war, Trump administration officials said Monday.
Kash Patel, a deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, went to Syria as part of an administration effort to secure the release of Americans overseas, including missing journalist Austin Tice, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
The trip, the first high-level visit by an American official to Syria in years, was first reported Sunday by The Wall Street Journal. Two administration officials confirmed it to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Gaining the release of Tice, a freelance journalist from Texas who disappeared while covering the civil war in 2012, would be a significant foreign policy victory for Trump, whose administration has touted its record of freeing Americans held overseas as well as an unconventional approach to Middle East politics.
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