Washington — The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has raised hopes that extra data may come to gentle on the whereabouts of journalist Austin Tice, who’s believed to nonetheless be alive greater than 12 years after his kidnapping.
After a insurgent offensive introduced an finish to the 50-year rule of the Assad household on Sunday, President Biden expressed optimism that Tice may very well be returned to the U.S.
“We expect we will get him again, however we’ve no direct proof of that but,” Mr. Biden stated on the White Home Sunday. “We now have to determine the place he’s.”
Tice, a Marine veteran and freelance journalist disappeared on Aug. 14, 2012, whereas he was reporting on the Syrian civil warfare. Weeks later, a brief video appeared on-line that confirmed a distressed Tice blindfolded together with his obvious captors. It was the final time he was seen.
Although nobody has ever claimed duty for his disappearance, Mr. Biden beforehand stated that the U.S. is aware of “with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime.”
“We stay dedicated to returning him to his household,” Mr. Biden stated Sunday.
Biden’s nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan stated in an interview with “CBS Mornings” on Monday that the U.S. has been in engaged with its allies and others on the bottom in Syria “to trace who’s popping out of those prisons.”
“We’re dedicated to reuniting Austin Tice together with his household, and we’ll work with folks in Syria to make that occur,” Sullivan stated.
State Division spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed Monday that the federal government’s prime hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, is in neighboring Lebanon engaged on Tice’s case.
“He’s in Beirut to speak with folks within the area, to speak with events within the area, to gather data and to attempt to discover out the place Austin Tice is and get him house as quickly as potential,” Miller stated.
CBS Information has reached out to the Tice household for remark.
Tice household says “important supply” offered new particulars
Two days earlier than rebels toppled the Assad regime, Tice’s mother and father and siblings questioned Sullivan about his case in a gathering they stated had been deliberate for months.
Debra Tice, his mom, stated at a information convention later within the day that “Austin Tice is alive” and “is being cared for and he’s effectively.” She stated the knowledge was from a “important supply” that had been vetted by the U.S. authorities.
Marc Tice, his father, stated the brand new data “may be very totally different” from previous leads.
“We’re assured that this data is recent. It signifies as late as earlier this yr that Austin is alive and being cared for,” he stated.
However the household additionally stated they’re pissed off with the U.S. authorities’s incapability to convey him house and stated they obtained few assurances concerning the Biden administration’s efforts.
“There simply appears to be a large disconnect between what President Biden has dictated for Austin by way of doing the whole lot that we will to convey him house, after which the actions and the conduct of the those that sit just under him,” his brother Simon Tice stated on the information convention.
The household additionally blamed the U.S. authorities for stopping the discharge of details about the supply of Austin Tice’s well-being.
