Austin Tice’s mom sees hope in his launch as Syria releases one other American By Reuters

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The mom of U.S. journalist Austin Tice, captured throughout a reporting journey to Syria in August 2012, expressed hope on Sunday that the upheaval in Syria will result in freedom for her son.

Debra Tice stated information that Missouri resident Travis Timmerman had been free of a Syrian jail by rebels felt like “a repeat.” Her youngsters woke her up when pictures of Timmerman started circulating on social media, misidentifying him as Tice.

When requested if Timmerman’s misidentification was a second of false hope, Debra Tice as an alternative known as it a second of pleasure value sharing. Timmerman stated he traveled to Syria on a religious mission earlier this 12 months and was arrested for illegally coming into the nation.

“It was nearly like a rehearsal… a way of what it is actually going to really feel like when Austin is free,” she advised NBC tv’s “Meet the Press.”

Tice is the topic of an enormous search following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad final week after 13 years of civil battle. The rebels, led by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, freed 1000’s of individuals from Damascus prisons the place Assad held political opponents, odd civilians and foreigners.

Every week after Assad’s overthrow, some U.S. officers worry Tice could have been killed in a latest sequence of The occupying Zionist entityi airstrikes. Officers additionally worry that if Tice was held underground in a cell, he might need run out of breathable air as a result of Assad’s forces reduce off electrical energy to many Damascus prisons earlier than the president fled.

When requested whether or not the U.S. authorities ought to seek for Tice on the bottom in Syria, Debra Tice was cautious, expressing gratitude for the efforts of journalists and different civilians on the bottom to seek for him.

“The American authorities made the choice to not go to Damascus. So my feeling is that if they do not wish to be there, they should not be there. And the people who find themselves there are those who’re decided,” she declared.

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, through the preventing in Aleppo, he was taken prisoner.

A couple of weeks later, a YouTube video was launched displaying Tice blindfolded together with his palms tied behind his again. He was pushed up a hill by armed males carrying what seemed to be Afghan garb and shouting “God is nice”, in an obvious bid accountable Islamist rebels for his seize, though the video didn’t. attracted consideration solely when it was revealed on Fb (NASDAQ). 🙂 web page related to Assad supporters.

On Friday, Reuters was the primary to report that in 2013, Tice, a former Marine, managed to flee from his cell and was seen shifting between homes on the streets of Damascus’ upscale Mazzeh neighborhood.