The last time Maryam Kamalmaz spoke with her father, she was eating breakfast with her children and mother at her home in Grand Prairie, Texas. Majd Kamalmaz had phoned them in February 2017 from Lebanon, where he ran mental health clinics for refugees.
Kamalmaz, a clinical psychologist born in Syria who came to the United States as a child, told his daughter he would be leaving for Damascus in a few days to visit with relatives following the death of his father-in-law. His family told him not to go, but Kamalmaz assured them the trip would be brief and his flight back to the United States was already booked.