That hope was boosted Friday with the news that Roger D. Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, had arrived in the capital city of Damascus along with two other top U.S.
The 1982 Hama assault is often described as the model for Bashar al-Assad's later crackdown on the rebellion that began in 2011 and toppled him this month. When rebels seized Hama on Dec. 6, their ...