US officials have expressed concerns that Tice may have been killed in recent Israeli airstrikes or could have suffocated after Bashar al-Assad's forces cut off power to prisons in Damascus before he was overthrow in December by Syrian rebels.

Trump’s statement gave a clear signal that United States under his leadership would return to the model of US-Israel relations in 2017-2020, during Donald Trump’s first term.

The president-elect may want to withdraw U.S. troops from the area, but if he does, he’d put a victory he’s proud of at risk.

Petraeus, a former CIA director and decorated 4-star Army general, spoke at an event in Salt Lake City on Friday.

In an official statement posted to Telegram in English, Al-Sharaa said he was "confident" that Trump will be the leader to "bring peace to the Middle East ", which has undergone turmoil amid Syria's devastating civil war, Israel's war in Gaza, and subsequent regional spillover.

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, arrived in Damascus on Saturday to step up the search for her son and said she hopes she can take him home with her.