American Travis Timmerman flown out of Syria after launch from jail

Travis Timmerman, the American who mentioned he was free of a Syrian jail amid the downfall of ousted President Bashar al-Assad‘s dictatorship, was taken in another country by the U.S. navy, a U.S. protection official confirmed to CBS Information on Friday.

Timmerman, 29, who disappeared into Syria’s infamous jail system about seven months in the past, was taken to the Al Tanf U.S. navy base after which flown out of Syria by way of helicopter and handed over to the U.S. State Division. A second protection official informed CBS Information he was flown to Jordan.

Mouaz Moustafa, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Syrian Emergency Process Drive who labored with rebels to rearrange Timmerman’s switch again to security, shared a photograph of the handoff of Timmerman to U.S. forces.

“Pete Timmerman AKA Travis is protected and sound and again in American arms thanks to the wonderful staff at (the Syrian Emergency Process Drive) for making this occur!” Moustafa wrote in a publish on X.

Timmerman, who’s from Missouri, informed CBS Information senior overseas correspondent Elizabeth Palmer on Thursday that he was free of jail earlier within the week after rebels overthrew Assad’s authorities. He mentioned two males armed with AK-47s broke his jail door down Monday with a hammer.

“My door was busted down, it woke me up,” Timmerman mentioned. “I assumed the guards had been nonetheless there, so I assumed the warfare might have been extra lively than it ended up being. … As soon as we received out, there was no resistance, there was no actual combating.”

Timmerman mentioned he had gone to Syria for Christian “non secular functions” and that his expertise in jail “wasn’t too dangerous.” He mentioned he was detained upon getting into Syria with out permission seven months in the past after spending a month in neighboring Lebanon.

“I used to be by no means crushed. The one actually dangerous half was that I could not go to the lavatory once I needed to. I used to be solely set free 3 times a day to go to the lavatory,” he mentioned.

Timmerman mentioned he left the jail with a big group and began strolling away.

The 29-year-old’s household informed CBS Information overseas correspondent Ian Lee they’re overjoyed that he’s alive and properly.

“It is onerous not to think about unfavourable ideas at the moment. We had been sort of considering it was going to be the worst final result for us,” Timmerman’s cousin, Mandy Pentridge, mentioned.

Timmerman is from Urbana, Missouri, about 50 miles north of Springfield within the southwestern a part of the state. He earned a finance diploma from Missouri State College in 2017, the Related Press reported.

contributed to this report.