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The Wall Street Journal said the meetings of the US official and his Syrian counterparts sought to secure the release of at least two US citizens.
The official in question is Cash Patel, the deputy assistant to the US president who is leading the fight against terrorism in the White House.
Washington believes that “the Syrian government is detaining its aforementioned citizens.”
Officials familiar with the trip, quoted by the “Wall Street Journal,” declined to reveal who had met Patel from the Syrian government during his visit.
The last known meetings between the White House and Syrian officials took place in Damascus in 2010, while the United States cut diplomatic ties with Syria in 2012, in protest against the government’s campaign against protesters.
US officials hope that “the deal with Damascus will lead to the release of Austin Tice, a freelance journalist and former Marine who disappeared while covering in Syria in 2012, and Majd Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American therapist who disappeared after being detained in a Syrian government checkpoint in 2012 “. 2017. ‘
It is believed that “the Syrian government is detaining at least 4 other Americans, but not much is known about these cases.”
Ibrahim Kamalmaz, one of the healer’s sons, welcomed Patel’s trip as a “positive step in trying to bring his father home.”
“This administration is committed to our father’s cause, and we continue to speak with officials at the highest levels of the United States government to bring my father home,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the US State Department declined to comment, while officials at the White House or the Syrian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the visit.
