US says Syria to help locate missing Americans

Syria's new authorities have agreed to help the United States locate and return Americans who went missing in the war-torn country, a U.S. envoy said on Sunday.

"The new Syrian government has agreed to assist the USA in locating and returning USA citizens or their remains," U.S. special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack wrote on X, describing it as a "powerful step forward".

"The families of Austin Tice, Majd Kamalmaz, and Kayla Mueller must have closure," he added, referring to American citizens who had gone missing or been killed during Syria's devastating civil war that erupted in 2011.

U.S.-Syria relations have steadily improved since former president Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in an Islamist-led offensive in December, ending more than a decade of diplomatic freeze.

Tice was working as a freelance journalist for Agence France-Presse, The Washington Post, and other outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in August 2012.

Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American psychotherapist, was believed to have died after being detained under the Assad government in 2017.

Mueller was an aid worker kidnapped by the Islamic State group, which announced her death in February 2015, saying she was killed in a Jordanian airstrike, a claim disputed by U.S. authorities.

The announcement came a day after the United States formally lifted sanctions on Syria, marking the start of a new chapter in the previously fraught ties between the two countries.

"President (Donald) Trump has made it clear that bringing home USA citizens or honoring, with dignity, their remains is a major priority everywhere," said Barrack, who also serves as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey.

"The new Syrian Government will aid us in this commitment," he added.

A Syrian source aware of the talks between the two countries told AFP there were 11 other names on Washington's list, all of them Syrian-Americans.

The formal lifting of U.S. sanctions also coincided with Syria's new authorities reshuffling their interior ministry to include fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling, as they seek to improve ties with the West.

The lifting of sanctions paves the way for reconstruction efforts in the war ravaged country, where authorities are relying on foreign assistance to help foot the massive cost of rebuilding.

Syria's foreign ministry on Friday welcomed Washington's lifting of sanctions, calling the move "a positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country."