The two US journalists who went Barack Obama visits Afghanistan ...
Germany and Syria sign deal on repatriation ...
Syria, Lebanon in landmark agreement to establish diplomatic ties ... missing in Lebanon a week ago were detained in Syria on Thursday for illegal entry, the Syrian foreign ministry has said.

Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23, were arrested after trying to cross the border from Lebanon with the help of smugglers, a ministry statement said.

They will be handed over to the US embassy in Damascus following the completion of "necessary measures".

A US embassy official confirmed two of its citizens were in Syrian detention.

However, he said diplomats were still trying to confirm their identities.

The US embassy in Beirut said the pair, who have both reportedly worked for the Jordan Times in Amman, travelled to Lebanon on holiday on 29 September from Jordan, and had told a friend on 1 October that they were planning to travel to Tripoli that day.

They were then going to cross by land into Syria before returning - again by land - to Jordan on 4 October.

The alarm was raised when they failed to return to Jordan at the weekend as expected.

(BBC)

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