The Mystery Surrounding the Fate of Journalist Austin Tice
On Friday, U.S. officials disclosed new information regarding Austin Tice, an American journalist detained while on assignment in Syria in August 2012 and not seen since.
A current and three former U.S. officials, along with an informed source, told Reuters that Tice managed an escape from his cell in 2013 but was recaptured shortly thereafter.
After his escape, Tice was reportedly spotted by residents in Damascus’s Al-Mazzeh neighborhood wandering the streets. According to a source familiar with the escape, Tice sought refuge in the home of a well-known Syrian family, whose name has been withheld for security reasons.
A current and a former U.S. official indicated that Tice was recaptured soon after his brief freedom. American officials believe that forces directly under former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad likely took Tice back into custody.
One of the insiders on the escape operation suggested that Tice might have been moved between different government intelligence agencies in the following years.
In 2016
an American official and an informed source reported that the Obama administration received information suggesting Tice was transferred to a hospital in Damascus for treatment of an illness, potentially marking his second known appearance. However, current U.S. officials expressed less certainty about this report compared to the 2013 escape account.
Over the years, Tice’s family, who have spearheaded the search for him, have expressed disappointment with the U.S. administration’s efforts, stating that freeing Tice has not been prioritized.
Last Sunday
President Joe Biden commented, “We believe he’s alive. We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet.”
Over the past twelve years, U.S. agencies including the FBI, the State Department, and the CIA have gathered thousands of pieces of evidence about Tice, but verifying most of it has proven nearly impossible.
In 2019, officials from the Trump administration, including Kash Patel, then a counterterrorism advisor, and Roger Carstens, the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, traveled to Damascus to discuss Tice with Syrian officials.
Current and former U.S. officials have stated that the Syrian government refused to provide proof
of life for Tice and demanded that the U.S. change its policy towards Syria and withdraw its troops
from the country in exchange for negotiations about Tice.
The Biden administration has maintained contact with the Syrian government since, but Assad’s
officials have been unwilling to negotiate until the U.S. agrees to their demands.
Last week, Carstens traveled to Beirut to coordinate the search for Tice. Other officials in the
region, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Barbara Leaf, the Assistant Secretary for
Near Eastern Affairs, are also working on Tice’s case.
Since Assad’s regime was toppled early last week, the armed opposition led by Hayat Tahrir al-
Sham has freed thousands from Damascus prisons, but Tice remains unaccounted for.
A U.S. official stated, “There is no reliable information about his whereabouts (Tice) nor clear
evidence of his death.”
About a week after Assad’s ousting, some U.S. officials fear Tice might have been killed in recent
Israeli airstrikes.
