Blinken says Washington working to bring home US citizen found in Syria
Al Jazeera
Travis Timmerman says he was detained after crossing into Syria on a Christian pilgrimage earlier this year.
The United States is working to bring home a US citizen found in Syria, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
Travis Timmerman appears to have been among thousands of people released from the country’s notorious prisons after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted this week in a lightning offensive by armed opposition groups.
“We’re working to bring him home,” Blinken said during a visit to neighbouring Jordan on Thursday to discuss the situation in Syria, adding that he couldn’t provide “any details on exactly what’s going to happen”.
Timmerman, a 29-year-old from the US state of Missouri, told reporters that he was detained after crossing into Syria on foot during a Christian pilgrimage seven months ago.
Video footage released online on Thursday showed him lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men said that he was being treated well and would be safely returned home.
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