 |
| © Courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigations |
Kevin Patrick Dawes, 33, from San Diego, was released following many months of negotiations, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details of Dawes’s release have not yet been made public.
The U.S. State Department had taken the lead on winning Dawes’s release, which took place in the last few days, according to a State Department official. An official said the Syrians handed Dawes over to Russia authorities, who then flew him out of Syria. Russia has been one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s biggest backers.
Officials also said the Czech Republic, which represents American interests in Syria, played a role in talks with the Syrians. The United States closed its embassy in Damascus in 2012 as the war intensified.
Dawes had been allowed in recent months to call his family and receive care packages, a signal to officials that the Syrian government was moving toward releasing him, officials said.
Dawes’s case drew little attention in the media, but his release is believed to be a positive sign in securing the freedom of freelance journalist Austin Tice, another American hostage and former U.S. Marine who disappeared in Syria in 2012. Tice had been contributing articles to The Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and other news outlets.
The Syrian government has never acknowledged detaining Tice, but U.S. officials believe the government or a group affiliated with it is holding him.
“The [Daweses’] private, painful ordeal is finally over. We are delighted for Kevin & his family,” said a statement from a Twitter account associated with the Tice family.
Dawes’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
State Department spokesman John Kirby on Friday confirmed that an American had been released.
“While privacy considerations prevent us from commenting further, we continue to work through our Czech protecting power in Syria to get information on the welfare and whereabouts of Austin Tice and other U.S. citizens missing and detained in Syria,” Kirby said in a statement. “We appreciate the efforts of the Czech mission on behalf of U.S. persons.”
Dawes was taken after crossing into Syria from Turkey, according to the FBI. This wasn’t the first time he had gone to a conflict zone.
In June 2011, he traveled to Libya as a medical aid worker but then fought alongside forces battling Moammar Gaddafi’s government. He said the Libyan government had been targeting medical workers.
“It was at that point we decided we had no choice,” he told NPR in an interview in 2011 from Libya. “It was either this, or perish from here.”
Dawes told NPR that at one point in Libya he started carrying a rifle and began working as a “counter sniper. Actually, I watch windows and take out people cliquing at us.”
Dawes told NPR he was never in the U.S. military but had 10 years of experience as a trained marksman.
Dawes described in the interview his reasons for being in Libya. “See the world, experience new things, get in way over my head, but, you know, ultimately survive.”
0 Response to "Kevin Patrick Dawes Released, American Released"
Thanks for give comment.