Travis Timmerman, a Missouri native, was imprisoned in Syria after he crossed into the country months ago. He was flown out of Syria and taken by helicopter to Jordan on Friday, a U.S. official said.

Russia is reportedly close to securing a deal with the new Syrian leadership that would secure the future of its military bases in the country.

Russia has reached an informal agreement with Syrian rebels that allows it to maintain a presence at military bases in Khmeimim and Tartus, Bloomberg reports. Russia believes it has an informal agreement with the rebels from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS),

Known as "poor man's cocaine," captagon is an addictive amphetamine-like stimulant banned in many countries but worth billions of dollars in trade.

Assad's government, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) fighters discovered significant quantities of captagon. The drug was being produced on a massive scale by the Syrian regime. "As we entered the area we found a huge quantity of captagon.