Pompeo: Damascus hasn’t responded regarding two missing Americans, despite a visit by an official, and we won’t change our policy towards the Syrian authorities

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the United States has not yet obtained answers from Syria regarding the disappearance of Americans, despite a rare visit by a US official to Damascus.

The Wall Street Journal revealed that a senior White House official, Kash Patel, visited Syria last August to try to help secure the release of journalist Austin Tice and the Syrian-American Majid Kamalmaz.

It is the first known visit of a senior US official to Syria in ten years, when diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed.

“We are calling on the Syrians to release Mr. Tice and let us know what they know,” Pompeo told reporters who asked him about the visit. 

They chose not to do so yet. ..we continue to work not only on the return of Austin, but also all of the detained Americans”.

Little information has been made public since this freelance photojournalist was kidnapped on August 14, 2012 near Damascus when he was 31 years old and working with the McClatchy Group, the Washington Post, CBS, Agence France-Presse and other media.

In March, US President Donald Trump wrote to his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad, whose legitimacy is questioned by Washington, in an effort to secure the journalist’s release. 

He said at the time that he did not know if he was still alive.

Mike Pompeo said the talks to bring back Austin Tice were separate from the US strategy in Syria, where the United States is still deploying forces while imposing harsh sanctions on the Syrian regime.

“We won’t change the policy of the United States” to release US citizens, “We do not pay for the hostages,” he said.