The terrorist branch of al-Qaeda affirms the arrest of an American journalist in Idlib

(ST) – After Washington leaked information about US efforts with Damascus to find out the fate of the American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, the so-called the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group which is the current front of the terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda branch in Syria, acknowledged the arrest of  another American journalist in Idlib.

The head of media relations in the “Tahrir al-Sham”, called Taqi al-Din Omar, said that “the American journalist Bilal Abdul Karim was arrested yesterday by “local authorities in the town of Atmeh, north of Idlib, after the arrest warrant was issued by the “HTS” against him, according to the “Zaman al -Wasl” website. “

Taqi al-Din indicated that “the reason for the arrest came after a number of allegations surrounding the accused, who is currently being investigated,” without clarifying the allegations against him.

Tahrir al-Sham’s admission of the arrest of the American journalist Abdul Karim comes one day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that President Donald Trump sent a letter to President Bashar al-Assad last March, including a proposal to establish a direct dialogue on the fate of American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria.

Tice was working as a photojournalist for France-Press Agency, “McClatchy News, Washington Post, CBS and other news organizations, when losing all trace of him after being stopped at a checkpoint in Damascus countryside on August 14, 2012 where armed militias and terrorist organizations control many areas in and around the capital.

The United States of America severed its relations with Damascus since the start of the terrorist war on Syria in mid-March 2011, and Damascus stressed that cooperation with any country that severed relations with Syria must be preceded by the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Raghda Sawas