he State Department said on Monday that US government has had more than one communication with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) over the past week, the Islamist group which has emerged as the ruling power in Damascus since toppling Bashar al-Assad just over a week ago.
The communication has been largely focused on getting help finding Austin Tice, an American journalist who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, and on the principles of Syria's transition, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a regular news briefing.