Mother of Missing U.S. Journalist Asks Syria’s New Leaders for Help

The mom of Austin Tice, an American journalist kidnapped in Syria, mentioned on Monday that she had met with Syria’s new chief in Damascus and expressed hope that “a page will be turned” within the greater than decade-long search for her son.
Debra Tice gave a information convention in Damascus on Monday after the assembly with Ahmed al-Shara, whose insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham led the sudden offensive final month that toppled President Bashar al-Assad, ending greater than 50 years of Assad household rule in Syria. Syria’s state information company additionally reported on the assembly, posting photos of her in dialog with Mr. al-Shara on the presidential palace.
Although she had no new data on her son’s whereabouts, Ms. Tice, who arrived in Damascus on Saturday, mentioned she felt optimistic that Syria’s new insurgent leaders would assist her and Syrian households looking out for family members nonetheless lacking after being held within the previous regime’s infamous prisons.
“It was so wonderful to learn that they are dedicated and determined to bring home my son and your sons,” Ms. Tice mentioned, addressing Syrians looking out for lacking family members as nicely. “They know what we are going through.”
Ms. Tice mentioned that so far as she knew, her son was nonetheless being held captive, however the turmoil since Mr. al-Assad’s ouster made it way more troublesome to establish his whereabouts.
“It’s like starting all over again,” she mentioned.
Mr. Tice was kidnapped at a checkpoint in a suburb of Damascus in 2012. He appeared not lengthy after in a video, blindfolded and held by masked males with assault rifles. Former U.S. officers mentioned they believed that the video was a ploy by the federal government guilty rebels for his disappearance.
Former and present U.S. officers have mentioned they consider Mr. Tice managed to flee a number of weeks after his seize via a window of a jail cell, however was caught by Syrian intelligence.
President Joe Biden mentioned in December, after Mr. al-Assad’s ouster, that U.S. officers believed Mr. Tice was nonetheless being held captive and hoped to carry him dwelling, whereas including that that they had “no direct evidence” about his standing.
Officials in his administration spent years wanting for Mr. Tice, together with a visit to Damascus in December by his particular envoy on hostages. The White House additionally gave the insurgent group a listing of former Syrian officers who may need information about Mr. Tice, a freelance journalist from Houston who wrote for The Washington Post and different retailers.
But Ms. Tice has not too long ago been vital of the Biden administration, saying it didn’t negotiate onerous sufficient for her son’s launch.
Ms. Tice mentioned she felt hopeful in regards to the incoming administration of Donald Trump. “Things are going to change,” she mentioned. “I’m looking forward to that. His people have already reached out to me.”
It was Ms. Tice’s first go to to Syria since 2015, when she met with officers of the Assad authorities, who by no means confirmed whether or not they held her son and later stopped issuing her visas.
During her assembly with Mr. al-Shara, Ms. Tice mentioned, he spoke to her of his personal time in jail. In 2003, Mr. al-Shara joined Al Qaeda to combat the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the place Mr. Tice as soon as served as a Marine. Mr. al-Shara spent years in a U.S. jail in Iraq, in line with Arab media accounts.
After main Al Qaeda’s Syrian department within the early days of the 13-year riot towards Mr. al-Assad, Mr. al-Sharaa reformulated the group as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in 2017 and has sought to distance it from its Al Qaeda previous.
Former and present U.S. officers have mentioned they consider Mr. Tice was held in a number of security-service detention amenities, together with Branch 248 and Branch 215, each believed to be navy intelligence websites.
During her go to to Syria she visited each locations, Ms. Tice mentioned, describing them as an “awful, terrible nightmare.”