Officials have said an American man who disappeared in Syria in 2017 is now presumed dead, according to his daughter.
Eight senior American officials showed detailed intelligence to Maryam Kamalmaz this month about the presumed death of her father Majd.
Their confidence was a “high nine” out of 10, according to Maryam. Majd Kamalmaz, among a number of Americans to have disappeared in Syria, disappeared in February 2017 at the aged of 59. He was travelling in Syria to visit an elderly family member.
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She said she asked whether other detained Americans had ever been successfully recovered in the face of such credible information, and was told no.
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Maryam said officials told her they believe the death of her psychotherapist father occurred years agoHe has not been heard of since being stopped at a Syrian government checkpoint, the FBI has said.
“What more do I need? That was a lot of high-level officials that we needed to confirm to us that he’s really gone. There was no way to beat around the bush,” Maryam Kamalmaz said.
'What more do I need?' Maryam said (CBS NEWS)She said officials told her they believe the death of her psychotherapist father occurred years ago, early in her father's captivity. In 2020, she said, officials told the family that they had reason to believe that he had died of heart failure in 2017, but the family held out hope and US officials continued their pursuit.
But, she said, “Not until this meeting did they really confirm to us how credible the information is and the different levels of (verification) it had to go through."
The intelligence shared with her was not described in detail.
The FBI's Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell issued a statement that did not offer any update on Kamalmaz but said that no matter how much time has passed, it continues to work “on behalf of the victims and their families to recover all US hostages and support the families whose loved ones are held captive or missing.”
Also missing is American journalist Austin Tice. Tice went missing in Syria in 2012 at a checkpoint in an area west of Damascus that was contested.
Syria has denied holding Americans in captivity.
In 2020, in the final months of the Trump administration, senior officials visited Damascus for a high-level meeting aimed at negotiating release of the Americans. But the meeting proved unfruitful, with the Syrians not providing any proof-of-life information and making demands that US officials deemed unreasonable. US officials have said they are continuing to try to bring home Tice.
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