Austin Tice: Family of journalist kidnapped in Syria 12 years ago say he’s still alive, citing ‘vetted’ source
The family of Austin Tice, a former Marine turned journalist who was kidnapped by jihadist militants in 2012 while reporting in Syria say he is still alive, citing a “significant source” that they did not identify but said had been vetted by the U.S. government and treated as credible.
Tice, 43, was a captain in the Marine Corps and journeyed to Syria as an independent journalist in May 2012, before his final year at Georgetown Law School.
The Texas native was covering events in Syria for McClatchy, The Washington Post and other news organizations report, when he disappeared just days after turning 31. He was abducted while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. There has been no claim of responsibility for his abduction.
AUSTIN TICE: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT AMERICAN JOURNALIST MISSING IN SYRIA
“We have from a significant source that has been vetted all over our government: Austin Tice is alive,” his mother Debra Tice told journalists at the National Press Club on Friday, before going to the White House for a meeting with other relatives.
“He is being cared for and he is well — we do know that,” Debra Tice said.
A video released weeks after his abduction showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, “Oh, Jesus.” The men in the video have Tice bound and blindfolded. They chanted “Allah-Akbar” throughout the clip and at one point, forced him to recite a prayer in broken Arabic.
He has not been heard from since.
Syria has publicly denied that it was holding him. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Tice’s family Friday afternoon, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
“Jake Sullivan did have a meeting with Austin Tice’s family this afternoon, and … Jake Sullivan has regularly met with the families of wrongfully detained Americans,” she said. “We’re going to continue to make sure that we get Americans who are wrongfully detained or Americans home to their families.”
“Austin Tice’s family, I can’t even imagine what they’re going through,” she added.
The meeting unfolded amid ongoing turmoil in Syria, as insurgent fighters who have already captured the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest, are pressing their march against President Bashar Assad’s forces.
BIDEN SAYS US KNOWS ‘WITH CERTAINTY’ THAT AMERICAN JOURNALIST AUSTIN TICE IS BEING HELD BY SYRIA
Austin Tice’s sister, Naomi, said she asked officials whether there was a way to leverage the unrest to help secure Austin’s freedom. “We were basically just told that we need to wait and see how it pans out” — a response she said may have been “understandable” but was “beyond frustrating.”
Tice’s father, Marc, said they are confident that this information is fresh. He said 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,” he said.
He was frustrated that state officials had secured the release of other U.S. hostages in recent months.
“We have seen what real commitment looks like. We’ve seen it in Russia. We’ve seen it in China, we’ve seen in Venezuela, we see it in Gaza,” he said, referring to places where hostages have been released in recent months. “And we’ve yet to see it for us.”
In August 2020, President Biden called on Syria to release Tice, saying the U.S. government knows “with certainty” that he is being held by the Syrian regime.
In June 2017, the New York Times reported that then-CIA Director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had reached out to a Syrian government official in an effort to secure Tice’s release. The backchannel shut down, however, after Syria launched a nerve gas attack on rebel-held territory in the northern part of the country. The Trump administration responded with a missile strike and negotiations fell through.
In April 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offered a $1 million reward “for information leading directly to the safe location, recovery, and return of” the former Marine.
Pompeo called upon the Syrian government to release Tice, and any other American hostages being held in Syria, back in September 2019 while addressing members of the media.
In the final months of the Trump administration, two U.S. officials — the government’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, and Kash Patel, now Trump’s pick to lead the FBI — made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information on Tice and other Americans who had disappeared in Syria.
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Debra Tice said that when President-elect Trump was last in office, he had “an obsession” with her son and bringing him home.
“It’s already on his mind. He’s already ready to go get him home,” she said of Trump Friday, per the Washington Post.
“Whatever kinds of feelings you may have, this mama has a really good feeling for someone who’s going to take care of her child — I would take that from anyone.”
Fox News’ Nick Givas, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.