An American journalist who has been missing in Syria for over a decade is still alive, according to his family.
The mother of Austin Tice said at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday that she was confident her son was alive based on information she said had come from a “significant source.” She did not identify the source but said they had been vetted by the U.S. government and treated as credible.
“He is being cared for and he is well—we do know that,” Debra Tice told reporters following a White House meeting with national security officials.
The meeting comes as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces clash with insurgent fighters who seized the northern city of Aleppo on Saturday.
“The news we’re hearing from the Middle East is the kind of thing that can unsettle a mom,” Debra Tice said, later adding, “When I think about war, I never have a happy moment.”
Who Is Austin Tice?
Tice is a journalist from Houston whose work had been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets. He vanished in August 2012 at a checkpoint in a contested area west of the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Weeks after Tice disappeared, a video was released showing the journalist blindfolded and held by armed men. Tice could be heard in the video saying, “Oh, Jesus.”
What Did Other Tice Family Members Say?
Tice’s father, Marc Tice, said at Friday’s event, “We have seen what real commitment looks like. We’ve seen it in Russia. We’ve seen it in China, seen in Venezuela, you see it in Gaza,” referring to places where hostages have been released in recent months, adding, “We’ve yet to see it for us.”
Speaking on the information suggesting his son is still alive, Marc Tice said, “We are confident that this information is fresh. It indicated as late as earlier this year that Austin is alive and being cared for. And we do hope to make as much of this public as we can.”
Austin Tice’s sister, Naomi Tice, said she asked officials whether the unrest in Syria could help secure Austin’s freedom.
“We were basically just told that we need to wait and see how it pans out,” she said. While Naomi Tice said this response may have been “understandable,” it was “beyond frustrating.”
A Biden administration official confirmed Friday that the Tice family had met with national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The official also noted that the administration had brought home over 75 Americans wrongfully detained by countries around the world.
What Did the Trump Administration Do for Tice?
In the final months of President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration, Roger Carstens, the U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator, and then-senior counterterrorism adviser Kash Patel, who is now Trump’s choice for FBI director, made a secret visit to Damascus to meet with Syrian government officials in an effort to get information on Tice and other Americans who have vanished in Syria.
The meeting marked the highest-level talk in years between the U.S. and Assad’s government. However, Syrian officials did not offer any meaningful information on Tice.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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