US NGO says missing Syrian-American bishop was held by ousted govt

US group Hostage Aid Worldwide said Tuesday that it believed Syrian-American bishop Yohanna Ibrahim, missing in Syria since 2013, was being held by the authorities under ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

"He is a US citizen," the group's Nizar Zakka told reporters in Damascus according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding Ibrahim "was seen in 2018 in Branch 291" of the security forces.

The senior Aleppo cleric of the Syriac Orthodox Church was kidnapped in April 2013.