(Right paragraph 17 to say that Tice was taken prisoner in Daraya, not Aleppo)
By Erin Banco and Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In early 2013, an American man, wearing tattered garments, dodged between homes on the streets of Damascus’s upscale Mazzeh neighborhood, searching for a civilian to take him to security after greater than 5 months of captivity. the concrete cells of an area jail.
The person, journalist Austin Tice, was captured throughout a reporting journey to Syria in August 2012. A former Marine, he had managed to flee from his cell, mentioned a present and three former U.S. officers in addition to ‘an individual with data of the occasion. Reuters. All have been granted anonymity to talk freely about delicate U.S. intelligence.
Tice’s 2013 escape, first reported right here, was the primary public sighting of the American after his disappearance, officers mentioned.
Tice is now on the middle of an enormous manhunt following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this week after 13 years of civil battle. The rebels, led by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, have since launched 1000’s of individuals from Damascus prisons the place Assad held political opponents, odd civilians and foreigners.
The American has not but been discovered. There is no such thing as a credible indication of his whereabouts, nor any clear proof of his loss of life, a U.S. official mentioned.
U.S. officers say Tice’s escape from jail in 2013, the place he was reportedly held by a pro-government militia, is the strongest proof the U.S. authorities has to recommend that forces loyal to Assad have been holding Tice. Through the years, this has allowed U.S. officers to instantly stress the Assad authorities on the difficulty.
The White Home declined to remark for this story. The CIA, Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence and the FBI didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
When Tice fled, he was noticed by residents of the Mazzeh neighborhood wandering the road. He entered the house of a widely known Syrian household, whose identify has not been launched for safety causes, an individual acquainted with the matter mentioned. Tice was recaptured shortly after his escape, a present and former U.S. official mentioned.
U.S. officers say it’s possible that Tice was captured after his escape by forces that responded on to Assad. An individual with data of the escape mentioned Tice was doubtlessly the topic of exchanges between a number of completely different authorities intelligence companies over the next years.
Former President Barack Obama’s administration obtained one other tip in 2016 that Tice had been taken to a Damascus hospital to obtain therapy for an unknown sickness, in what could be his second recognized sighting, an official mentioned American and an individual near the data. . However present U.S. officers aren’t as assured in that report as they’re in his 2013 breakout.
Through the years, Tice’s household – who led the battle to seek out him – publicly expressed frustration with the US authorities, saying it had not prioritized Tice’s launch. Tice. They’re now gathered in Washington within the hope of quickly with the ability to have fun his freedom.
The household declined a request for remark.
“We consider he’s alive. We expect we will get him again, however we do not have direct proof but,” US President Joe Biden mentioned final Sunday, fueling optimism about Tice’s destiny.
Over the previous 12 years, U.S. companies, together with the FBI, State Division and CIA, have collected 1000’s of items of details about Tice. Most are virtually unattainable to confirm.
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Tice, who labored as a contract journalist for the Washington Put up and McClatchy, was one of many first American journalists to journey to Syria after the outbreak of the civil battle.
In August 2012, whereas crossing Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, he was taken prisoner.
A number of weeks later, a YouTube video was launched exhibiting Tice blindfolded together with his arms tied behind his again. He was led up a hill by armed males sporting what seemed to be Afghan garb and shouting “God is nice”, in an obvious bid in charge Islamist rebels for his seize, though the video attracted no consideration. consideration solely when it was posted on Fb (NASDAQ: ) web page related to Assad supporters.
Tice could be heard reciting a prayer, in Arabic, earlier than saying in English: “Oh Jesus, oh Jesus.”
There are completely different accounts of what occurred to Tice in 2012, together with who initially took him and the place he was transferred. Different journalists have been taken prisoner on the similar time.
However as time handed and different journalists have been launched, particulars about Tice remained scarce. The Obama administration had obtained intelligence that it was both within the arms of an extremist insurgent faction or within the arms of the Syrian authorities, two of the previous officers mentioned. However he had no means of verifying the data.
Over the previous decade, some U.S. officers and press advocates have misplaced confidence within the evaluation that Tice is alive, partly as a result of there was no credible new proof to substantiate his standing. Others maintained a way of optimism, together with some members of the brand new Trump administration.
In 2019, Trump administration officers, together with Kash Patel, then-assistant to the US president and counterterrorism adviser, and Roger Carstens, particular envoy for hostage affairs, traveled to Damascus to fulfill Syrian officers about Tice.
Present and former U.S. officers mentioned the Syrian authorities had refused to offer proof of life and demanded the USA reverse its Syria coverage and withdraw U.S. troops from the nation in trade for opening negotiations on Tice. Since then, the Biden administration has maintained contact with the Syrian authorities, however Assad officers have been unwilling to barter till the USA agreed to their calls for.
On December 6, Austin Tice’s mom Deborah and his household mentioned at a press convention {that a} supply verified by the U.S. authorities had just lately confirmed that Tice was alive and being handled nicely.
“He is being handled and he is doing nicely,” Deborah Tice mentioned.
However within the hours after the convention, U.S. officers engaged on Tice’s case mentioned that they had no new data and have been caught off guard by his mom’s statements.
This week, Carstens traveled to Beirut to coordinate the seek for Tice. Different officers are additionally within the area, together with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Barbara Leaf, head of the State Division’s Close to East workplace.
“We’re decided to seek out him and produce him house to his household and family members,” Blinken advised reporters Thursday.
Almost per week after Assad’s overthrow, some U.S. officers concern Tice might have been killed in a current collection of The occupying Zionist entityi airstrikes. Officers additionally concern that if Tice was held underground in a cell, he may need run out of breathable air as a result of Assad’s forces lower off electrical energy to many Damascus prisons earlier than the president fled.
This week, studies emerged of an American sighted in Damascus, elevating hopes that Tice might have been launched.
However it wasn’t Tice.
On Thursday, information broke that Missouri resident Travis Timmerman had been discovered after being free of jail by rebels. Timmerman mentioned he traveled to Syria on a religious mission earlier this yr and was arrested for illegally getting into the nation.
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