Syria’s Damascus As the search continues for the American journalist who vanished in Syria more than ten years ago while covering the civil conflict there, Syria’s new leadership claims it blames former President Bashar al-Assad for the “pain inflicted” for years on Austin Tice’s family.
In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Obaida Al-Arnaot, the official spokesperson and head of Syria’s interim government’s political affairs department, stated, “We hold Bashar al-Assad and his criminal regime accountable for the consequences of Austin’s disappearance and the pain inflicted on his mother – pain, tears, and separation.”
Syria’s interim administration has attempted to locate Tice in order to bring him back to his family, but Arnaot claimed the 43-year-old journalist has not been able to be found.
“We tried as much as possible to find information about Austin and return him to his mother, but we have not reached any result,” he stated.
It comes as a video purporting to show a missing American alive in the town of Dhiyabia, outside the Syrian capital Damascus, surfaced online overnight, raising the possibility that it is Tice. A source close to Tice’s family stated that they do not think the video is of their missing son, and a senior U.S. official told NBC News that it was not Tice.
Instead, the man in the video told NBC News that he was Travis from Missouri and refused to give his last name. He then revealed that he was Travis Timmerman, who was last seen in Budapest in May. He claimed to have entered Syria on foot, been arrested, and spent months imprisoned.
Houston native Tice vanished in 2012, a few days after turning thirty-one, while covering the civil war in Syria that had started the previous year.
Shortly after his abduction, a video surfaced that purported to show masked men holding him at gunpoint, but the U.S. officials questioned its veracity and said it was faked.
Rather, the State Department stated that Tice was thought to be in the Syrian government’s custody, a claim that the administration of former President Bashar al-Assad has strongly refuted.
Syrian journalist Saher al-Ahmad told NBC News in an interview in Damascus that he had seen Tice twice while he was incarcerated at a facility in the Kafr Sousa region of the capital, but he did not speak to him.
Ahmad stated that he last met Tice in July 2022 and that the Houston journalist seemed to be in “somewhat good” health.
But when I saw him, he was emaciated,” he remarked. He was able to move and walk despite the modest protrusion of his neck bones because he and other inmates were permitted to walk and exercise in the prison hallway for an hour.
According to Ahmad, Tice seemed to be kept in a huge cell by himself, and overall, the conditions in which foreign inmates were housed were “excellent” in comparison to those that Syrian detainees had to endure.
Tice’s family has voiced renewed hope that they will be reunited with their son after rebel forces overthrew Assad.
Tice’s parents, Debra and Marc Tice, stated in an interview with Lester Holt of NBC Nightly News that they had learned that their son was not only alive but also receiving proper care prior to the rebels overthrowing Assad’s regime. They said, however, that they were unsure of the identity of the person holding their kid captive.
Debra Tice stated, “We’re just waiting to see because they’re taking care of the prisons little by little and we know that some of the larger prisons are not places that Austin is.”
President Joe Biden offered a glimmer of hope on Sunday when he stated, “We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet.”
Jen Daskal, the president’s deputy assistant and deputy Homeland Security advisor, stated during a Wednesday Atlantic Council event in Washington that the Biden administration was willing to speak with anyone who may know anything about Tice.
Daskal responded, “We are extremely focused on doing everything possible we can to locate Austin Tice, and are talking to anybody who is willing to talk to us, who might have information,” when asked if the administration would be willing to cooperate with Islamist rebel forces in Syria, who recently overthrew the Assad regime, in order to secure the journalist’s freedom.
She stated that “the administration is extraordinarily focused on that effort,” but she did not provide any other details.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, is the leader of Syria’s new rebel coalition. It was founded by an Al Qaeda branch. The State Department has a $10 million reward for information about HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who was one of those fighting American forces in Iraq after their 2003 invasion.
Jolani has worked to present a more moderate image in recent years, severing his ties with Al Qaeda and rejecting global extremism.
As we all look to the future, Biden has cautioned during a time of risk and uncertainty, even as he hailed the overthrow of Assad.
Chantal Da Silva reported from London, while Richard Engel and Gabe Joselow reported from Damascus.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!