Conflicting reports have emerged regarding the discovery of what is believed to be the missing American journalist, Austin Bennett Tice, who has been unaccounted for in Syria for over 12 years. While Syrian media confirmed these reports on Thursday(10-12-2024), other outlets denied them.
The Fall of the Syrian Regime
On December 8, 2024, Ba’athist Syria, under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad, fell during a significant offensive launched by opposition forces. The operation was led by Tahrir al-Sham and primarily supported by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, marking a pivotal moment in the ongoing Syrian civil war that began in 2011.
Assad’s Prisons in Syria
With the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, harrowing truths about the prisons and detention centers used as tools of repression and terror have been unveiled. Many of these facilities, now under new control, stand as stark witnesses to the atrocities committed against detainees.
Notable Prisons in Syria
- Adra Prison
- Sednaya Prison
- Palestine Branch
- Military Intelligence Branch 291
- Tadmor Prison
Statistics and Violations in Numbers
In an interview with Syria TV, Fadel Abdul Ghany, Director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, stated: “All forcibly disappeared individuals who have not yet been found were killed by the Syrian regime.” Efforts to locate the forcibly disappeared continue.
Abdul Ghany revealed that in 2018, the regime notified the families of 1,100 detainees of their deaths in custody, without providing details on the location of the bodies or causes of death.
According to an August 2024 report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the Syrian regime has detained approximately 136,614 people since 2011, including 96,321 who remain forcibly disappeared.
The Disappearance of American Journalist Austin Tice
American journalist Austin Tice vanished in August 2012 while covering events near the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Five weeks later, a 43-second video surfaced online showing Tice held captive by what his family describes as an “unusual group of apparent jihadists.” No information about his fate has emerged since.
The U.S. has long believed that Tice, a former U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Georgetown University law student, is held by the Syrian government. However, the regime has never acknowledged this. Successive U.S. administrations have urged Syria to release him.
Who is Austin Tice?
Austin Bennett Tice (born August 11, 1981) is an American freelance journalist and a veteran U.S. Marine Corps officer who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria on August 13, 2012.
A New Opportunity to Uncover Austin Tice’s Fate
The dramatic fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime offers a fresh chance to gather new intelligence on Tice—potentially paving the way for his return home.
Roger Carstens, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, traveled to the Middle East to engage with stakeholders. On Monday, a State Department spokesperson confirmed that Carstens was in Beirut, Lebanon, as part of “ongoing intensive efforts to locate Austin Tice and reunite him with his family.”
The U.S. has informed Syria’s leading rebel group, Tahrir al-Sham, that Tice remains a priority. While no new information about his location has surfaced, a senior Biden administration official stated on Tuesday that the assumption is that Tice is alive.
Conflicting Reports on the Discovery of Austin Tice
Activists released a video showing a Syrian citizen discovering an American man in the Dhiyabiyah area of rural Damascus, believed to be journalist Austin Tice.
CBS confirmed reports shared by Syria TV, stating that an American man identifying himself as Travis Timmerman from Missouri was found.
هل هذا الصحفي الأميركي أوستن تايس؟
— قتيبة ياسين (@k7ybnd99) December 12, 2024
وجده الثوار حافي القدمين في منطقة كانت تسيطر عليها ميليشيات إيران بدمشق pic.twitter.com/0bRVSsbGnj
New Transitional Government Announces Search for Austin Tice
On Thursday, the Syrian Transitional Government’s Department of Political Affairs confirmed ongoing efforts to locate Austin Tice, who disappeared in 2012. The government expressed readiness to cooperate with the U.S. in locating American citizens who went missing under President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
A statement published on Telegram read: “Under leadership directives, efforts are underway to locate American citizen Austin Tice,” who was kidnapped in Syria. The department also noted the liberation and safeguarding of an American citizen named Travis Timmerman without providing further details.
In the same statement, the department expressed its willingness to “directly cooperate with the U.S. administration to continue the search for American citizens disappeared by the former Assad regime.”
