American who disappeared in Syria in 2017 is presumed dead, according to his daughter

A American citizen who disappeared while traveling in Syria seven years ago is presumed dead, the man’s daughter said on Saturday.

Maryam Kamalmaz told the Associated Press that eight senior U.S. officials announced earlier this month that they had concrete and highly credible information about the suspected death of her father Majd, a Texas psychotherapist.

During the meeting in Washington, officials told her that their confidence in her father’s death was a “high nine” on a scale of one to 10. She said she asked whether other detained Americans had ever been successfully recovered given such credible information and was told no.

“What more do I need? That was a lot of high-ranking officials who had to confirm to us that he was really gone. There was no way to beat around the bush,” said Maryam Kamalmaz.

She said officials told her they believed the death occurred years ago, early in her father’s captivity. In 2020, she said, officials told the family that they had reason to believe he had died of heart failure in 2017, but the family held out hope and U.S. officials continued their pursuit.

But she said, “It wasn’t until that meeting that they really confirmed to us how credible the information was and the different levels of (verification) it had to go through.”

She did not describe the intelligence she had learned.

Majd Kamalmaz disappeared in February 2017 at the age of 59 while traveling in Syria to visit an elderly family member. The FBI said he was stopped at a Syrian government checkpoint in a Damascus suburb and had not been heard from since.

Kamalmaz immigrated to the United States at the age of six and received dual citizenship.

“We are Americans in every way. Don’t let this fool you. I mean, my father always taught us that this is your country and we’re not going anywhere. We were all born and raised here,” Maryam Kamalmaz said CBS News in 2019.

A White House spokesman declined to comment Saturday and spokespeople for the FBI, which investigates kidnappings abroad, did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ email seeking comment.

Kamalmaz is one of several Americans who have disappeared in Syria. including journalist Austin Tice, who went missing from a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus in 2012. Syria has publicly denied holding Americans captive.

In 2020, in the final months of the Trump administration, High-ranking officials visited Damascus for a high-level meeting to negotiate the release of the Americans. But the meeting proved fruitless as the Syrians provided no conclusive information and made demands that U.S. officials considered unreasonable. U.S. officials said they would continue trying to bring Tice home.

The New York Times first reported the suspected death of Majd Kamalmaz.