What to find out about Austin Tice, journalist held in Syria who U.S. is
Washington — The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has raised hopes that extra info might come to mild 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 now we have no direct proof of that but,” Mr. Biden stated on the White Home Sunday. “We now have to establish the place he’s.”
Tice, a Marine veteran and freelance journalist disappeared on Aug. 14, 2012, whereas he was reporting on the Syrian civil struggle. 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 will 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 info and to attempt to discover out the place Austin Tice is and get him house as quickly as doable,” Miller stated.
Carstens on Monday posted on social media {that a} reward of as much as $10 million for anybody with “info resulting in the situation, restoration, and return” of Tice.
Tice household says “vital supply” supplied 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 nicely.” She stated the data was from a “vital supply” that had been vetted by the U.S. authorities.
Marc Tice, his father, stated the brand new info “could be very totally different” from previous leads.
“We’re assured that this info is recent. It signifies as late as earlier this 12 months 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 lack of ability to convey him house and stated they acquired few assurances concerning the Biden administration’s efforts.
“There simply appears to be a large disconnect between what President Biden has dictated for Austin when it comes to doing all the things that we will to convey him house, after which the actions and the conduct of the those who 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.
In an interview with CBS Information on Monday, his sister Naomi Tice known as on the Biden administration and incoming Trump administration to make use of all of the instruments they’ve accessible to convey her brother house.
“We simply actually hope that they make the most of this chance,” she stated.
She stated there’s been a “enormous gap” of their close-knit household with out him. He is missed the births of his nieces and nephews and his siblings’ weddings.
Jonathan Tice praised his brother’s “conviction and his need to do good and do proper.”
“A very powerful factor to find out about him is simply that intrinsic goodness,” he advised CBS Information.
Caitlin Huey-Burns
contributed to this report.
