Syrian government releases American citizen

Kevin Patrick Dawes is seen in a 2010 picture from a missing persons poster circulated by the FBI. Handout via Reuters

WASHINGTON // The Syrian government has released an American citizen who was captured and detained after entering the country about four years ago, the US state department said on Friday.

Spokesman Mark Toner declined to identify the American due to privacy considerations, but US officials said he is Kevin Patrick Dawes, a 33-year-old freelance photographer from San Diego who was abducted in 2012.

Mr Toner, who described the US citizen as a “detainee,” not a “hostage,” said he was released in the past few days and is no longer in Syria.

He said he believed Mr Dawes was released in the Syrian capital of Damascus, but that he could not say why he was detained or whether he is now in the United States.

Mr Toner thanked Czech officials who represent US diplomatic interests in Syria for helping the United States gain access to Mr Dawes and seek his release.

US officials said Mr Dawes was turned over to authorities from Russia, which has been backing the government of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad in the civil war that now is in its sixth year.

“We are appreciative of efforts on the part of the Russian government that it undertook on behalf of this US citizen,” mr Toner said, declining to characterise what role the Russians played in his release.

“I can’t speak to the logistics,” Mr Toner said, adding that the Czechs offered the consular support on the ground that American officials would have wanted to provide.

He said the US continues to work through the Czech officials in Syria to get information on the welfare and whereabouts of Austin Tice and an unknown number of other US citizens missing or detained in Syria.

Tice, of Houston, Texas, disappeared in August 2012 while covering Syria’s civil war. A video released a month later showed the journalist, blindfolded and held by armed men, saying: “Oh, Jesus.”

He has not been heard from since then.

Asked if the US dealt directly with Syrian officials in seeking the release of Mr Dawes, Mr Toner said only that: “We have also been in direct periodic contact with the Syrian government regarding consular issues in general and American citizens detained in Syria.”

The spokesman said he was not aware that the Syrian government received anything in exchange for freeing the US citizen.

The Washington Post first reported the release of Mr Dawes and quoted FBI officials as saying that he was taken after crossing into Syria from Turkey. The Post said Mr Dawes was recently was permitted to call his family and receive packages.

* Associated Press