American plane landed in Lebanon… what is its relationship with Syria?
In the past few hours, media have reported that the American journalist Austin Tice will be released, whose family says he is being held in Syria.
The Lebanese newspaper, Nidaa al Watan, said in its issue on Friday, November 13th, that a US military plane belonging to the Special Operations unit landed in the Air Force at the “Teriaq” base in the Lebanese Bekaa, raising questions about the nature of the mission that it brought to Lebanon.
The flight path via satellites showed that it had arrived from Jordan to Lebanon, according to the “INTEL sky” account, which monitors the movement of aircraft.
The newspaper quoted, according to sources it described as reliable, that the plane may be waiting for the receipt of the American journalist Austin Tice to take him to Washington, after the mediation of the Director General of Lebanese Security, Abbas Ibrahim, who visited Washington last October.
The newspaper suggested that the process of releasing Austin was completed or about to be completed after his transfer by land from Damascus, but American press sources told the newspaper that the mission of the plane was not related to the release of the American journalist, but confirmed, “Yes, Austin Tice is on the way back to Lebanon”.
On the other hand, Nizar Zakka, program director at the American Foundation for Peace Technology, who was arrested in Iran earlier, denied, via Twitter, the news of the release of American journalist Austin Tice from his detention in Syria.
This comes after the Lebanese Public Security Director’s visit in mid-October to Washington at an official US invitation.
According to the Washington Post, the visit was aimed at pushing forward “fragile” negotiations with Damascus that US President Donald Trump began earlier this year to seek To release the Americans, including the freelance journalist Austin Tice, a contributor to The Washington Post.
The newspaper quoted others, describing them as “those with knowledge of the talks,” that Syria did not even recognize the detention of Americans, and instead insists on the complete withdrawal of US forces from Syria and the lifting of US sanctions as a precondition for any further discussions.
The American “Wall Street Journal” revealed, on October 18, that the senior White House counterterrorism official, Cash Patel, visited Damascus with the envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, during the current year, to discuss the issue of detained foreigners, and met the director National Security Office, Major General Ali Mamlouk.
Austin Tice, a 37-year-old former US Navy soldier and photojournalist, chose to travel to Syria to report the news to the US media, which included CBS, The Washington Post and McClatchy.
He is said to have been arrested at a checkpoint outside Damascus on August 13, 2012.
The Washington Post, citing an unnamed senior US administration official, also says that four other Americans are missing in Syria.
