Syria's new government pledges to assist US in finding and returning missing citizens

Syria’s new authorities have promised to assist the United States in locating and returning missing Americans in the war-torn nation, according to a US envoy on Sunday, in another sign of improving bilateral ties.

The declaration was made the day after the US officially eased sanctions on Syria, which had been in place for more than ten years.

Since the toppling of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December due to an Islamist-led onslaught, relations have gradually improved.

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

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“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.

In August 2012, Tice was apprehended at a checkpoint while working as a freelance writer for publications such as The Washington Post and Agence France-Presse.

The Syrian-American psychologist Kamalmaz was believed to have died following his detention by the Assad regime in 2017.

Mueller was an aid worker abducted by the Islamic State group, which reported her death in February 2015, claiming she was killed in a Jordanian air strike, a claim denied by US officials.

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“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 US ambassador to Turkey.

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

Americans killed by IS

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 source added that a Qatari delegation began this month, at Washington’s request, a search mission for the remains of American hostages killed by IS.

Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile said that “the Qatari delegation is still searching in Aleppo province for the bodies of American citizens executed by IS”.

Two US journalists, James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, were videotaped in 2014 being beheaded by a militant who spoke on camera with a British accent.

El Shafee Elsheikh, a jihadist from London, was found guilty in 2022 of hostage-taking and conspiracy to murder US citizens – Foley and Sotloff, as well as aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.

The formal lifting of US 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-torn country, where authorities are relying on foreign assistance to help foot the massive cost of rebuilding.

Syria’s foreign ministry on Saturday welcomed the US lifting of sanctions, calling the move “a positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country”.

The sanctions relief extends to the new government on condition that Syria does not provide safe haven for terrorist organisations and ensure security for religious and ethnic minorities, the US Treasury Department said.

Trump shook hands with Syria’s jihadist-turned-interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa earlier this month during a visit to Saudi Arabia.