Search by FBI, Qatar uncovers remains of 30 people believed killed by ISIS in Syria

The remains of 30 people believed to have been killed by the militant Islamic State group have been found in a remote Syrian town in a search led by Qatari search teams and the FBI, according to a statement from Qatar on Monday.

The Qatari internal security forces said the FBI had requested the search, and that DNA tests are currently underway to determine the identities of the people. The Qatari agency did not say whom the American intelligence and security agency is trying to find. However, the Reuters news agency, citing two sources briefed on the mission, said they were searching for the remains of American hostages killed by ISIS.

Dozens of foreigners, including aid workers and journalists, were killed by ISIS militants who had controlled large swaths of Syria and Iraq for half a decade and declared a so-called caliphate. The militant group lost most of its territory in late 2017 and was declared defeated in 2019.

Since then, dozens of gravesites and mass graves have been discovered in northern Syria containing remains and bodies of people ISIS had abducted over the years.

American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as humanitarian workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig are among those killed by ISIS.

A Syrian source told Reuters that the initial search was focused on was on finding the remains of Kassig, who was beheaded in 2014 in northern Syria.

“We are grateful to all those who are involved in the effort to get these deceased individuals’ remains identified and returned to their home countries and loved ones,” the Kassig family said in a statement to Reuters.

John Cantlie, a British correspondent, was abducted alongside Foley in 2012, and was last seen alive in one of the extremist group’s propaganda videos in 2016.

The search took place in the town of Dabiq, near Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

ISIS released videos in 2014 and 2015 of the beheadings of Foley, Sotloff, and Kassig. A similar video was released of two abducted Japanese aid workers who were beheaded by the extremists in a similar way.

A masked man who was doing the killings and speaking in English on the videos was later identified as Mohammed Emwazi, a British citizen of Kuwaiti origin from London, known as “Jihadi John.” He was killed in November 2015 in a targeted U.S. and British drone strike.

Mass graves have also found in areas previously controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad who was ousted in a lightning insurgency last December, ending his family’s half-century rule. For years, the Assads used their notorious security and intelligence agencies to crack down on dissidents, many who have gone missing.

American journalist Austin Tice, abducted in 2012 in a contested area in western Syria, is among the most prominent cases of the missing. He was last seen a video weeks later, showing him being taken captive by armed men. The U.S. administration in December said he is still believed to be alive, though Washington admitted at the time it had no direct evidence of Tice’s wellbeing.

Washington had for years maintained that Tice was held by Syria’s now-former authorities.

In an interview with “CBS Mornings” in December, Tice’s parents said they had not seen video evidence that he is alive, and they don’t know where he is.

“We haven’t seen … video evidence since the initial video that came out shortly after he was taken, but there has been confirmation from folks that have had eyes on him, and that even fairly recently,” Marc Tice said. “So, again, we are confident that he is alive and we know he’s ready to come home.”

The United Nations in 2021 estimated that over 130,000 Syrians were taken away and disappeared during the uprising that began in 2011 and descended into a 13-year civil war.