Secret Talks in Muscat: US delegation meets with Syrian regime in search for missing journalist Austin Tice

MUSCAT — Secret talks took place in the Omani capital, Muscat, between a U.S. delegation and a delegation from the Syrian regime, The Cradle reported.

The meetings included security figures and representatives of the foreign ministries of the two countries.

In a report it published last week, the newspaper stated that a senior diplomatic official in the League of Arab States said: “During the talks, the US official confirmed that he had information that the US journalist Austin Tice was still alive and was on Syrian territory.”

The Syrian delegation denied having any information about the US journalist, indicating that the Syrian government is ready to make all possible efforts to reveal his fate.

Fox Press, quoting a source close to a US official who attended the meeting, stated that the US delegation was led by the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk.

The US source stated to Fox Press that McGurk stipulated that any political solution in Syria must guarantee the role of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) because they control large areas in North and East Syria and have a clear political program that will contribute to laying the first steps to resolving the Syrian crisis and ending the greatest tragedy the region has seen in a century.