1/3 Until recently, James Foley was thought to be in hands of pro-Assad forces. if Assad is handing over westerners to ISIS to be killed

— Kim Ghattas (@BBCKimGhattas) August 20, 2014

2/3 it indicates Assad feels cornered, looking for leverage. Chimes with what I heard from ppl coming from Damascus recently

— Kim Ghattas (@BBCKimGhattas) August 20, 2014

3/3 would confirm Assad tacitly working w/ ISIS and silence any suggestons Assad is the better alternative. #JamesFoley

— Kim Ghattas (@BBCKimGhattas) August 20, 2014

Q. Hasn't Syrian regime been at forefront of fight agst #ISIS? State: Right hand might be bombing it, but left hand facilitated their growth

— Hannah Allam (@HannahAllam) August 20, 2014

Philip Balboni, GlobalPost CEO:

“Although GlobalPost’s investigation at one point led us to believe that James was being held by the Syrian government, we later were given strong reason to believe he was being held by Islamic militants in Syria,” Balboni said. “We withheld this information at the request of the family and on the advice of authorities cooperating in the effort to protect Jim. GlobalPost, working with a private security company, has amassed an enormous amount of information that has not been made public.”

In May 2013, GlobalPost reported:

After a five-month investigation inside Syria and the wider Middle East, GlobalPost and the family of missing American journalist James Foley now believe the Syrian government is holding him in a detention center near Damascus.

“With a very high degree of confidence, we now believe that Jim was most likely abducted by a pro-regime militia group and subsequently turned over to Syrian government forces,” GlobalPost CEO and President Philip Balboni said during a speech marking World Press Freedom Day.

“We have obtained multiple independent reports from very credible confidential sources who have both indirect and direct access that confirm our assessment that Jim is now being held by the Syrian government in a prison or detention facility in the Damascus area. We further believe that this facility is under the control of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence service. Based on what we have learned, it is likely Jim is being held with one or more Western journalists, including most likely at least one other American.”

Balboni said that GlobalPost representatives were now meeting with the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon in Beirut to secure his support. The ambassador has delivered letters to the Syrian ministries of defense, interior, information and foreign affairs.

The Syrian government, however, has so far not acknowledged knowing of Foley’s whereabouts.

Note that Balboni did not call into question the accuracy of GlobalPost’s earlier assessment about Foley’s whereabouts.