An American who turned up in Syria says he was detained after crossing into the country on foot seven months ago on a Christian pilgrimage.

The State Department says the U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator is in Beirut in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years.

Israeli strikes have hit suspected chemical and long-range weapons sites in Syria and the foreign minister says the aim is to keep them from rebels who seized Damascus.

President Joe Biden says the U.S. government believes missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital, is alive and Washington is committed to bringing him home after Bashar Assad’s ouster from power.

President Joe Biden says the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad is a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but that it's “a moment of risk and uncertainty” for the Mideast.

President-elect Donald Trump says the U.S. should avoid engaging militarily in Syria, where an opposition offensive is threatening the rule of the country's Russian- and Iran-allied leader.

The mother of Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for more than a decade, says she's confident that her son is alive.

The Biden administration has had notable success in the past couple of years in bringing home Americans who are wrongfully detained by foreign governments.

Syria has denied it is holding U.S. journalist Austin Tice or other Americans, a week after President Joe Biden accused the Syrian government of holding him.

President Joe Biden has met with the parents of American journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria 10 years ago.

Talks between U.S. and Syrian officials last summer over the fate of journalist Austin Tice and other American hostages foundered over conditions laid out by Damascus and because of a lack of meaningful information provided on the fate of Tice.

DUBAI – President Donald Trump's national security adviser promised a “very professional transition” to the administration of President-elect Joe Biden in an interview broadcast Monday, even as Trump continues to falsely claim he won the November election. “If the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner — obviously things look that way now — we'll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council. The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency also says: “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.”O'Brien, Trump's fourth national security adviser, previously served as his special envoy on hostage affairs. A top Lebanese security official said Saturday that he visited Syria for two days to speak with officials there about Tice. However, there's been no public sign of tensions easing between Doha and Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

WASHINGTON – A senior White House official made an unusual, secret visit to Syria for high-level talks aimed at securing the release of two Americans who have been missing for years amid the country's long civil war, Trump administration officials said Monday. The trip, the first high-level visit by an American official to Syria in years, was first reported Sunday by The Wall Street Journal. Direct talks had also been sought by the missing journalist's parents, Marc and Debra Tice. The paper, which usually conveys government positions, said Syrian officials have demanded a U.S. troop withdrawal from eastern Syria, where they have been deployed alongside Kurdish fighters. Trump has made negotiating the release of U.S. citizens held hostage or imprisoned in foreign countries a priority.