WASHINGTON – Backtracking from earlier comments, the Obama administration says it does not know the whereabouts of Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi, who disappeared this week. State Department spokesman Mark Toner now says US officials have seen “various reports” regarding Makdissi's location but cannot confirm any of them — except that he is not in the United States. Toner had said Wednesday the US understood the longtime foreign ministry spokesman was in London, but British officials later denied he was there. Another official said Makdissi might be in a Gulf country, but stressed that Washington was not tracking his movements. That official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Meanwhile, troops waged fierce assaults on rebels around Syria Thursday, focusing on the capital's outskirts, amid growing concerns that an increasingly desperate regime might resort to chemical weapons. Assad forces shelled Douma and Zabadani to the northeast of the capital and Daraya and Moadamiyet Al-Sham to the southwest, official and activist sources said. Additional troops were deployed in Daraya. – Agencies
