Blinken says US has made 'direct contact' with Syria's victorious HTS

"We've been in contact with HTS and with other parties," Blinken told reporters after talks on Syria in the Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba. He did not give details on how the contact took place but when asked if the United States reached out directly, he said: "Direct contact -- yes." Blinken said that the contact was partly related to the search for Austin Tice, the US journalist kidnapped in 2012 near the start of the brutal civil war. "We have pressed upon everyone we've been in contact...