After the brutal fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, the family of American journalist Austin Tice has new hope. Missing since 2012, for 4,517 days, Austin Tice is believed to be alive, according to the non-governmental organization Hostage Aid Worldwide. “We have data that Austin was alive until January 2024, and the president of the United States said in August that he was alive, and we are confident that he is alive today,” declared Tuesday, December 24, Nizar Zakka, president of this NGO which works with families of kidnapped civilians to free them. “We try to be as transparent as possible and share as much information as possible,” he added.
U.S. officials said earlier this week that they have been working with sources on the ground to obtain information on Austin Tice since the departure of Bashar al-Assad, according to national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who visited on the show Good Morning America on the ABC News channel Monday.
Abducted near Damascus twelve years ago
According to a website created by his relativesAustin Tice, who would be 43 years old today, is a native of Houston, Texas, and is also a veteran captain in the United States Marine Corps. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and his reporting as a journalist has already been recognized, including the 2012 American George Polk Prize and the Baker Prize.
When he was kidnapped near Damascus, after Syria had been the scene of war for more than a year, the journalist was working for Agence France-Presse (AFP), McClatchy News, the Washington Post, CBS and other media. He was arrested during a report at a checkpoint in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, before disappearing. His family said on their website that he planned to leave for Lebanon on August 14. In twelve years, the Syrian authorities have never admitted that they had arrested the journalist.
“The last few days have been incredibly intense and it’s so different than how I’ve felt in the past. I feel like anything is possible,” said Abigail Edaburn, Austin Tice’s sister. A month after his capture in 2012, a forty-three-second video showing Austin Tice, then 31, with a group of armed men was sent to his family with the caption “Austin Tice is alive.” And then nothing more.
Successive American governments committed
Nevertheless, the American authorities, from the administration of Barack Obama to Joe Biden, including that of Donald Trump, have continued to look for the journalist and to be in contact with his parents. In 2018, US federal authorities announced they were offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the safe location, recovery and return of Austin Tice. A statement renewed by the FBI on Monday, December 9, reports the website of the National Public Radio.
Friday, December 20, a delegation of American diplomats arrived in Syria to meet the new Syrian authorities, dominated by radical Islamists, with the aim of pushing them to promote unity after thirteen years of civil war. Among the emissaries: Roger Carstens, responsible for collecting clues about Americans missing in Syria like Austin Tice. Jacob Tice, his brother, said the whole family was grateful for the efforts to find him. “We are just a family that wants our brother to come home, so we are extremely grateful for all the efforts that seem to be being made to find Austin at this time.” And added: “We really hope that these efforts will bear fruit and that Austin will come home soon.”