This story is interesting, but I was having a hard time following the backstory. He was in Jordan temporarily, but hasn't been in Syria in 3 years? If so where

This story is interesting, but I was having a hard time following the backstory. He was in Jordan temporarily, but hasn't been in Syria in 3 years? If so where was he? Just trying to understand context. There's a lot of stories of people being treated without rights in airports (even rich white European males get the treatment sometimes). It's honestly really scary.