U.S. President Joe Biden has renewed calls for the safe return of American Journalist Austin Tice who went missing in Syria over a decade ago.

On Wednesday Biden urged leaders in Damascus to help secure the repatriation of Tice as pressure continues to increase on the White House by families of hostages and detainees, Reuters reported.

Biden said that the U.S. government knows now "with certainty" that the U.S. journalist has been held by the Syrian government and called on the Syrian government to release him after 10 years in captivity, CNN reported.

Biden said, "We know with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime." The president said, "We have repeatedly asked the government of Syria to work with us so that we can bring Austin home."

Biden urged movement on the case for Tice's family, saying, "On the tenth anniversary of his abduction, I am calling on Syria to end this and help us bring him home." He said, "Tice family deserves answers, and more importantly, they deserve to be swiftly reunited with Austin."
 
According to CNN, the Syrian government and leader Bashar al-Assad, have not publicly acknowledged that Tice is being detained there.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday, "Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens will continue to engage with the Syrian government in close coordination with the White House, Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, and our team here at the State Department."

Carstens secretly traveled to Damascus to meet with government officials there in 2020 while under then president Donald Trump. Then in May, he met with a top Lebanese security official in Washington to "discuss US citizens who are missing or detained in Syria." 

A top priority for the Tice family and U.S. officials is to continue to engage with the Syrian government and keep that engagement sustained.

A mother and veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan said she had to do something she never dreamed of.

While stuck in traffic on Interstate 10 in New Orleans, she said someone tried to get in her car.

So, her training kicked in and she pulled out a gun.

Charise Taylor said the incident happened while her 2-year-old son was in the car.

"You shouldn't have to navigate your own city like a war zone. It's un-American,” Taylor said. “The crime is out of control and it's terrifying. At this point, having to use the same tactics in an American city that you use in Iraq and Afghanistan simply to navigate through the city it's scary and I'm not the only mom feeling this way."

Taylor said she was headed to pick up her husband on Friday.

She said she was stuck in gridlock traffic when a group in a truck motioned to her to get over.

So, she let them. Next thing she knows a man comes up to her passenger door.

"So, as he comes up he's close and he's pretty aggressive trying to get the car door open makes eye contact with me he's still trying to get it open a couple times," Taylor said.

Taylor said she picked up her gun.

“It’s locked and loaded," she recalled saying.

Watch the video above for the full story.

BAGHDAD, Baghdad Governorate —

At least four rockets targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday, two Iraqi security officials said. The area is home to diplomatic missions and the seat of Iraq's government.

Three of the missiles struck within the perimeter of the American Embassy, the officials said. Another hit a school located in a nearby residential complex. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

An Iraqi military statement said a girl and a woman were injured in the attack, without providing more details. The statement said the rockets had been launched from the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said in a statement that its compound had been attacked by "terrorists groups attempting to undermine Iraq's security, sovereignty, and international relations." The embassy's C-RAM defense system — supposed to detect and destroy incoming rockets, artillery and mortar shells — was heard during the attack.

The attack is the latest in a series of rocket and drone attacks that have targeted the American presence in Iraq since the start of the year, following the second anniversary of the U.S. strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Last Thursday, a series of attacks targeted American troops in Iraq and Syria. Rockets struck an Iraqi military base hosting U.S. troops in western Anbar province and the capital.

Pro-Iran Shiite factions in Iraq have vowed revenge for Soleimani's killing and have conditioned the end of the attacks on the full exit of American troops from the country.

The U.S.-led coalition formally ended its combat mission supporting Iraqi forces in the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group last month. Some 2,500 troops will remain as the coalition shifts to an advisory mission to continue supporting Iraqi forces.

The top U.S. commander for the Middle East, Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, warned in an interview with The Associated Press last month that he expects increasing attacks on U.S. and Iraqi personnel by Iranian-backed militias determined to get American forces out.

BAGHDAD, Baghdad Governorate —

Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi survived an assassination attempt with an armed drone that targeted his residence early Sunday, and is unharmed, officials said.

Two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press that seven of his security guards were injured in the attack which occurred in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone area. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give official statements.

The prime minister tweeted shortly after the attack: "The rockets of treason will not shake one bit of the steadfastness and determination of the heroic security forces."

"I am fine and among my people. Thank God," he wrote.

In a statement, the government said the drone tried to hit al-Kadhimi’s home, adding that he was "unharmed and in good health." Residents of Baghdad heard the sound of an explosion followed by gunfire from the direction of the Green Zone, which houses foreign embassies and government offices.

The statement released by state-run media said the failed assassination attempt was with "an explosives-laden drone that tried to target his residence in the Green Zone."

"The security forces are taking the necessary measures in connection with this failed attempt," it said.

It was not clear who was behind the attack, nor did anyone immediately claim responsibility. It comes amid a stand-off between security forces and pro-Iran Shiite militias whose supporters have been camped outside the Green Zone for nearly a month after they rejected the results of Iraq’s parliamentary elections in which they were the biggest losers.

Protests turned deadly Friday when the demonstrators marched toward the Green Zone. There was an exchange of fire in which one protester was killed. Dozens of security forces were injured. Al-Khadimi ordered an investigation to determine what sparked the clashes and who violated orders not to open fire.

The United States, the U.N. Security Council and others have praised the Oct. 10 election, which was mostly violence-free and without major technical glitches.

Following the vote, militia supporters had pitched tents near the Green Zone, rejecting the election results and threatening violence unless their demands for a recount were met.

The unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud have cast a shadow over the vote. The standoff with the militia supporters has also increased tensions among rival Shiite factions that could reflect on the street and threaten Iraq’s newfound relative stability.

The election was held months ahead of schedule in response to mass protests in late 2019, which saw tens of thousands in Baghdad and predominantly Shiite southern provinces rally against endemic corruption, poor services and unemployment. They also protested against the heavy-handed interference of neighboring Iran in Iraq’s affairs through Iran-backed militias.

The militias lost some popularity since the 2018 vote, when they made big election gains. Many hold them responsible for suppressing the 2019 protests, and for challenging the state’s authority.

The biggest gains were made by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who won the largest number of parliament seats, 73 out of 329. While he maintains good relations with Iran, al-Sadr publicly opposes external interference in Iraq’s affairs.

The protests appeared to be aimed at pressuring al-Sadr to ensure that Iran-aligned factions are part of the next Cabinet. As the winner, al-Sadr’s bloc will seek coalition partners and name the prime minister.

CINCINNATI — Serving his country was always part of Jason Snow’s journey, but doing that with the Ohio National Guard was never on the radar.

After graduating high school in 1993, he joined the U.S. Navy to get money to further his education. He served for four years, hanging up his service uniforms in 1997.

But the pull of duty would come back to him four years later, on Sept. 11, 2001.

Snow was working a forklift at the time in a factory.

“Someone came up and told me that a plane crashed into the Twin Towers," Snow said. "I said, 'Well, an air traffic controller must have really messed up on that one.' Then the second one. Then, I started to think, like what's going on? And then another co-worker said the Pentagon just got hit. And I said, 'Well, that's impossible. You can't get to the Pentagon.'

"I knew at that moment that we are under attack, and I need to do something personally.”

Four months later, Snow joined the Guard.

“I was mentally prepared, yes," Snow said. "Already having the military background and knowing what it takes to be successful and to lead. I had those already.”

And Snow’s nearly 20-year journey sent him all over the world.

“There's been a series of deployments, from Germany to Iraq, to Washington, D.C.,” he said.

Fellow Ohio National Guard member Dylan Stenski, on the other hand, has no memory of that day. He had just turned 21 months old.

Provided photo

“I have absolutely no recollection of anything that happened," he said. "I don't remember anything."

While Stenski would learn the historical significance of 9/11 in school, he also learned that his father wanted to step up and enlist. It would prove to be a tall task with a toddler and another baby on the way.

Now Stenski is tasked with signal system support for the Ohio National Guard, in the same unit as Sgt. 1st Class Snow.

“It's an opportunity; it's a privilege,” Stenski said. “I grew up not having to worry about an attack on American soil because there were other people out there protecting me. So now there's me in that position. “

Sfc. Snow is the 1-174^th Air Defense Artillery Regiment’s battalion master gunner and readiness NCO.

Provided photo

“That gives me the opportunity to get the soldiers ready for these higher op-tempo deployments that we have, you know, around the country and overseas, as well,” Snow said.

The Guard changed after 9/11. It is no longer just sent out on humanitarian missions domestically. Many soldiers spent months, if not years, overseas in Iraq or Afghanistan.

As Sfc. Snow reflects on 9/11, the day that pulled him back to duty, and Cpl. Stenski looks back to a day he doesn’t remember but feels its effects daily on his enlistment, each say it is both history and reality.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Pope Francis has urged Iraqis to treat their Christian brothers as a precious resource to protect, not an “obstacle” to eliminate as he opens the first-ever papal visit to Iraq.

The pontiff has brushed aside coronavirus and security worries to make the visit in a show of support for Iraq's beleaguered Christians.

At a church where Christians suffered one of their worse massacres by militants a decade ago, Francis recognized the community's traumas but urged them to stay in Iraq to ensure the community endures.

Iraqi President Barham Salih has echoed his call for tolerance, saying “The East cannot be imagined without Christians.”

For nearly 20 years, Bagram Airfield was the heart of American military power in Afghanistan, a sprawling mini-city behind fences and blast walls just an hour’s drive north of Kabul. Initially, it was a symbol of the U.S. drive to avenge the 9/11 attacks, then of its struggle for a way through the ensuing war with the Taliban.

In just a matter of days, the last U.S. soldiers will depart Bagram. They are leaving what probably everyone connected to the base, whether American or Afghan, considers a mixed legacy.

“Bagram grew into such a massive military installation that, as with few other bases in Afghanistan and even Iraq, it came to symbolize and epitomize the phrase ‘mission creep’,” said Andrew Watkins, Afghanistan senior analyst for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

U.S. Central Command said last week that it’s well past 50% done packing up Bagram, and the rest is going fast. American officials have said the entire pullout of U.S. troops will most likely be completely finished by July 4. The Afghan military will then take over Bagram as part of its continuing fight against the Taliban — and against what many in the country fear will be a new eruption of chaos.

The departure is rife with symbolism. Not least, it’s the second time that an invader of Afghanistan has come and gone through Bagram.

The Soviet Union built the airfield in the 1950s. When it invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to back a communist government, it turned it into its main base from which it would defend its occupation of the country. For 10 years, the Soviets fought the U.S.-backed mujahedeen, dubbed freedom fighters by President Ronald Reagan, who saw them as a front-line force in one of the last Cold War battles.

The Soviet Union negotiated its withdrawal in 1989. Three years later, the pro-Moscow government collapsed, and the mujahedeen took power, only to turn their weapons on each other and kill thousands of civilians. That turmoil brought to power the Taliban who overran Kabul in 1996.

When the U.S. and NATO inherited Bagram in 2001, they found it in ruins, a collection of crumbling buildings, gouged by rockets and shells, most of its perimeter fence wrecked. It had been abandoned after being battered in the battles between the Taliban and rival mujahedeen warlords fleeing to their northern enclaves.

After dislodging the Taliban from Kabul, the U.S.-led coalition began working with their warlord allies to rebuild Bagram, first with temporary structures that then turned permanent. Its growth was explosive, eventually swallowing up roughly 30 square miles.

“The closure of Bagram is a major symbolic and strategic victory for the Taliban,” said Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

“If the Taliban is able to take control of the base, it will serve as anti-U.S. propaganda fodder for years to come,” said Roggio who is also editor of the foundation’s Long War Journal.

It would also be a military windfall.

The enormous base has two runways. The most recent, at 12,000 feet long, was built in 2006 at a cost of $96 million. There are 110 revetments, which are basically parking spots for aircraft, protected by blast walls. GlobalSecurity, a security think tank, says Bagram includes three large hangars, a control tower and numerous support buildings. The base has a 50-bed hospital with a trauma bay, three operating theaters and a modern dental clinic. There are also fitness centers and fast food restaurants. Another section houses a prison, notorious and feared among Afghans.

Jonathan Schroden, of the U.S.-based research and analysis organization CNA, estimates that well over 100,000 people spent significant time at Bagram over the past two decades. “Bagram formed a foundation for the wartime experience of a large fraction of U.S. military members and contractors who served in Afghanistan,” said Schroden, director of CNA’s Center for Stability and Development.

“The departure of the last U.S. troops from there will likely serve as the final turn of the page for many of these folks with respect to their time in that country,” he said.

For Afghans in Bagram district, a region of more than 100 villages supported by orchards and farming fields, the base has been a major supplier of employment. The U.S. withdrawal effects nearly every household, said Darwaish Raufi, district governor.

The Americans have been giving the Afghan military some weaponry and other material. Anything else that they are not taking, they are destroying and selling it to scrap dealers around Bagram. U.S. officials say they must ensure nothing usable can ever fall into Taliban hands.

Last week, the U.S. Central Command said it had junked 14,790 pieces of equipment and sent 763 C-17 aircraft loaded with material out of Afghanistan. Bagram villagers say they hear explosions from inside the base, apparently the Americans destroying buildings and material.

Raufi said many villagers have complained to him about the U.S. leaving just their junk behind.

“There’s something sadly symbolic about how the U.S. has gone about leaving Bagram. The decision to take so much away and destroy so much of what is left speaks to the U.S. urgency to get out quickly,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center.

“It’s not the kindest parting gift for Afghans, including those taking over the base,” he said.

Inevitably, comparisons to the former Soviet Union have arisen.

Retired Afghan Gen. Saifullah Safi, who worked alongside U.S. forces at Bagram, said the Soviets left all their equipment when they withdrew. They “didn’t take much with them, just the vehicles they needed to transport their soldiers back to Russia,” he said.

The prison in the base was handed over to the Afghans in 2012, and they will continue to operate it. In the early years of the war, for many Afghans, Bagram became synonymous with fear, next only to Guantanamo Bay. Parents would threaten their crying children with the prison.

In the early years of the invasion, Afghans often disappeared for months without any reports of their whereabouts until the International Red Committee of the Red Cross located them in Bagram. Some returned home with tales of torture.

“When someone mentions even the word Bagram I hear the screams of pain from the prison,” said Zabihullah, who spent six years in Bagram, accused of belonging to the faction of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a warlord designated a terrorist by the U.S. At the time of his arrest it was an offense to belong to Hekmatyar's party.

Zabihullah, who goes by one name, was released in 2020, four years after President Ashraf Ghani signed a peace deal with Hekmatyar.

Roggio says the status of the prison is a “major concern,” noting that many of its prisoners are known Taliban leaders or members of militant groups, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. It's believed about 7,000 prisoners are still in the prison.

“If the base falls and the prison is overrun, these detainees can bolster the ranks of these terror groups,” Roggio said.

As the U.S. nears the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, military veterans of the Global War on Terror are seeking a space on the National Mall to honor their fallen brethren.

On Memorial Day, thousands will visit Arlington National Ceremony to honor those who died fighting for the United States. For those visiting Section 60 — the area for service members killed in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom — it's a reminder that some conflicts aren't quite history.

"If you want to sense the emotions in our community from 20 years of war, go there on Memorial Day and see what's on the faces of the family and friends of the fallen," said Tom Porter, an executive vice president of the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America.

But a growing group of bipartisan lawmakers wants to honor veterans of the Global War on Terrorism outside of Arlington and hopes to establish a national memorial monument on the National Mall in Washington.

Currently, on the mall, there are memorials honoring those who fought in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Now, Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colorado and Mike Gallagher, R-Wisconsin, are leading the effort to get a Global War on Terrorism memorial established in D.C.

"I think we've seen, decade after decade, the importance of veterans and their families, those who lost, lost loved ones and that war, the ability to come to a place, and to bring their kids and their grandkids to that place and reflect on the meaning of that experience," Crow said.

Both Crow and Gallagher are veterans of the recent wars and have introduced legislation multiple times that would establish a memorial on the mall.

"I think a memorial like this, and all the memorials on the lawn, not only provide that place that Jason talked about for veterans but serve as a reminder for all Americans about how lucky we are to be Americans but the cost that a lot of people pay in order to keep us safe and keep us free as a country," Gallagher said.

CNN reports that the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Location Act has the bipartisan backing of 140 House members.