"They are hardworking people. They are taxpayers. Business owners."
The U.S. is communicating with rebel groups inside Syria amid the search for missing American journalist Austin Tice, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
"One of the happiest days in our lives and the lives of all Syrians,"
Austin Tice's family says sources vetted by the US government say the Houston journalist and Marine could be alive after he was captured west of Damascus in 2012.
HTS, which has roots in al-Qaeda, is considered a terrorist group by the U.S.
A coalition of countries led by the U.S. and U.K. on Saturday carried out a new round of strikes on the Houthis in Yemen "in response to the Houthis' continued attacks against commercial and naval vessels" in and around the Red Sea, officials said.