The high-level delegation arrived to engage in talks with Syria's interim leadership, the State Department confirmed early Friday.

Hostage envoy Roger Carstens traveled to Syria Friday, making the first known U.S. in-person contact with the caretaker government, and seeking help in finding missing American Austin Tice.

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has led to the freeing of tens of thousands of prisoners from the country’s brutal and byzantine prison system. Desperate family members continue to search for many more people who went missing since repression of an anti-government uprising triggered a horrific civil war in 2011.

To my colleagues in the press,” Hunter wrote recently, asking for support, “do not let Austin Tice be forgotten. Keep asking tough questions and demanding answers until the administration takes action and makes his release a priority.

The U.S. is communicating with rebel groups inside Syria amid the search for missing American journalist Austin Tice, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

During a brief trip to Syria, a US hostage envoy says the extensive secret prison network is slowing efforts to bring the American journalist home