Incoming Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler suggested that the Syrian rebels prove they’re truly in charge by turning in the American hostages without incident.
Boehler made one of his first television appearances since President-elect Donald Trump appointed him on the heels of Syrian rebels taking over Damascus. The Assad family had been head of Syria’s government for over 50 years and fled only 13 days after Syrian rebels began their offensive.
As a result, ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family fled to Russia after President Vladimir Putin granted them asylum. However, it’s believed a handful of Americans remain in the region, including freelance journalist Austin Tice, who has been in the nation for 12 years. Whether these rebels will be friendly with the hostages remains to be seen, but Boehler suggested it is in the rebels’ best interest to be friendly to Americans.
“I think now is the time to get our hostages. Hope is there. And I think to the rebels: if they want to say they are a real country, that they are not Islamic extremists, then they should turn over our people,” Boehler said on Fox News’s Fox and Friends. “They should find them and turn them over, and it would be a very strong gesture of friendship to the United States.”
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Boehler is best known for his role as Abraham Accords negotiator during Trump’s first term. President Joe Biden also supported the deal, which was known as the “normalization agreement.”
Trump is likely to remain uninvolved in Syria as he pulled troops out of the country during his first term. In a post online, he referred to the ousting of the Syrian president as a “mess” but assured his followers he does not consider Syria an ally and would rather watch the situation play out than get involved.
