Hostage envoy Roger Carstens traveled to Syria Friday, making the first known U.S. in-person contact with the caretaker government, and seeking help in finding missing American Austin Tice.

The high-level delegation arrived to engage in talks with Syria's interim leadership, the State Department confirmed early Friday.

The team is the first group of American diplomats to formally visit the country in more than a decade since the U.S. shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012.