US talks directly with Syria on missing American but White House a ‘holdup,’ family says
The family of Majd Kamalmaz is pleading with the White House to build on previous engagement with Damascus, saying the Syrians have demanded to speak with a high-level US official.
The Biden administration is pursuing a direct dialogue with the Syrian government regarding US citizen Majd Kamalmaz, his family told Al-Monitor as it marked the fifth anniversary of his disappearance with an urgent appeal to the White House.
Kamalmaz was detained at a government-run checkpoint near Damascus in February 2017 and has been missing ever since. The 64-year-old clinical psychologist from Virginia had arrived in the Syrian capital a day earlier to visit with relatives following a death in the family.
He and freelance journalist Austin Tice are among several Americans believed to have been detained by the Syrian regime over the course of its civil war. The Syrian government has never publicly confessed to holding them.
The family is pressing the US government to cut a deal with the Syrians. As part of that effort, US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens has had direct contact with Syrian government officials in the past year, the family says.
