Damascus/Beirut - Two US journalists detained in Syria were released late Thursday, the US embassy in Syria confirmed. Taylor Luck, 23, and Holli Chmela, 27, were taken for questioning on charges of identity theft, according to Lebanese sources.
Earlier, the Syrian Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement to the official SANA news agency, that the two detainees were employed by the Jordan Times and live in Amman.
According to sources, the two US citizens testimonies did not match, which aroused suspicion that they could be members of an espionage cell - possibly Israeli - hostile to Syria.
The two were likely to be handed over to the US embassy in Jordan on Friday, sources said.
