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Austin Tice's family says long-missing journalist is alive as war resurges in Syria

Michael Wilner, McClatchy Washington Bureau on

Published in News & Features

WASHINGTON — Austin Tice’s entire family visited Washington this week in a show of force to the outgoing Biden administration, asserting they have fresh, reliable information that he is alive and pressing top White House and State Department officials to leverage dramatic changes on the battlefield in Syria to secure a breakthrough in the case of the missing journalist.

Tice’s parents, Debra and Marc Tice, have frequently visited the capital to advocate for their son, who went missing as a freelance journalist covering Syria’s civil war in 2012. But this visit was the first of its kind from the entire Tice family since he first disappeared over 12 years ago.

Little progress has been made on Tice’s case over those years, spanning three presidents and a transformed Middle East.

But a resurgence in Syria’s war over the past month after years of frozen frontlines has created new opportunities and perils for the American, a former U.S. Marine and Texas native.

“Today is a day full of emotions. The news that we’re hearing from the Middle East – that kind of thing can unsettle a mom,” Debra Tice told reporters at a press conference at the National Press Club on Friday. “There are all kinds of ways this can go.”

She told reporters that the family had a new source telling them that Austin Tice remains alive and healthy. The family is working to be able to share more information with the public, she said.

“We have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government that Austin Tice is alive – Austin Tice is treated well,” Debra Tice said.

Debra and Marc Tice both said the Biden administration is declining to make the new information public. U.S. officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the family’s statement.

Syria erupted in civil war in 2011 following a brutal crackdown on democratic protesters by the Assad government. Tice traveled to the country to cover the conflict the following year for McClatchy, The Washington Post and other publications.

U.S. officials believe he was detained at a Syrian government checkpoint southwest of Damascus on Aug. 14, 2012. A video emerged six weeks after his disappearance purporting to show him in captivity.

With assistance from Russia and Iran, the Assad regime was able to push back an array of opposition forces that increasingly fractured throughout the war. The rise of Islamic State in the country also led to an international military offensive in northern Syria that culminated in 2017. Ever since, Assad’s hold on power has appeared stable.

But a surprise offensive launched by a united front of rebel forces last month has put Assad’s army on the run for the first time in years. In a span of mere weeks, the Syrian army has retreated from Aleppo, Hama and Homs, cities where Assad spent years fighting to regain control.

The offensive is being led by Tahrir al-Sham, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

It is not immediately clear how the resurgence of military action in Syria might affect negotiations over Tice. But U.S. officials are watching the developments closely to monitor for any new opportunities to engage on his case, an official told McClatchy.

Tice’s family met with State Department officials on Thursday and with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday, a White House official confirmed in a statement.

“President Biden and his team have worked around the clock, often in partnership with key allies, to negotiate for the release of Americans held hostage or unjustly detained abroad so that they can be reunited with their families, and the administration will continue to do so throughout the remainder of the term,” the official said.

Speaking to the press on Friday, Austin Tice’s father, Marc, said that Sullivan told the family the administration had done everything it could think of to reach a breakthrough in his case. But his family believes the government has exerted more effort to secure the release of wrongfully detained Americans in Russia, Venezuela, Iran and Gaza than they have for their son.

Similarly, at the State Department meeting, “there were complaints and finger pointing about who is preventing things from happening, and who’s responsible for doing what,” Marc Tice said. “We think this is a time of opportunity, actually, and there’s no time like now to start doing the right thing.”

 

Last month, as Syrian regime lines were collapsing before the rebel advance, the White House said that Assad’s refusal to participate in a political process with the opposition, and his reliance on Russia and Iran, had “created the conditions now unfolding, including the collapse of Assad regime lines in northwest Syria.”

“The United States, together with its partners and allies, urge de-escalation, protection of civilians and minority groups, and a serious and credible political process that can end this civil war once and for all with a political settlement,” Sean Savett, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said in a statement. “We will also continue to fully defend and protect U.S. personnel and U.S. military positions, which remain essential to ensuring that ISIS can never again resurge in Syria.”

Debra Tice was skeptical of the policy, questioning why the administration would support the rebel advance on Assad forces. Biden officials have made clear they are not a part of the offensive.

“I don’t really understand what’s happening in Syria,” she said. “I’m upset by the fact that terrorists are tearing up Aleppo, killing people in Aleppo. I don’t understand that. I don’t understand why our government isn’t running in saying we are not going to allow a terrorist entity to take over Syria.”

“There are people feeling like it’s possible this could be Austin’s release. I certainly pray that that’s it,” she added.”

Long-stalled talks

In August, marking 12 years since Tice’s disappearance, President Joe Biden issued a statement that his administration had “repeatedly pressed the government of Syria to work with us so that we can, at last, bring Austin home.”

“The freedom of the press is essential, and journalists like Austin play a critical role informing the public and holding those in power accountable,” Biden said. “We stand in solidarity with Austin, his family, and all Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage abroad. I will continue to do everything possible to advocate for and pursue his release and support his loved ones until he is safely returned home.”

In 2022, Biden met with Tice’s parents at the White House and vowed to engage the Syrians directly over Tice. In a statement at that time, the president expressed “certainty” that Assad had held him in Syrian custody, without specifying when, where or in what condition. During the Obama administration, the CIA obtained Syrian government records indicating Tice had at one point been processed through the Syrian court system.

Biden’s team had been hopeful the following year that quiet talks with Damascus could produce a breakthrough. But Hamas’ attack on Israel, and the war that followed in Gaza and Lebanon, disrupted the discussions.

Officials in the first Trump administration also attempted to directly engage with the Syrians to secure Tice’s release, traveling to Damascus in an effort to do so. But Assad aides refused to acknowledge Tice’s case during that meeting, insisting the U.S. government renew its recognition of Assad as the leader of Syria – and a full withdrawal of U.S. troops in the country there to combat Islamic State – before even uttering his name, U.S. officials told McClatchy.

In August, marking the anniversary, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Tice had been held in “unknown conditions” and issued a plea to Syria to open an honest dialogue on his case.

“For more than a quarter of his life, Austin has been separated from his family and kept in unknown conditions,” Blinken said. “We know the Syrian government has held Austin, and we have repeatedly offered to find a way to bring him home.”

“This has gone on for far too long,” Blinken added. “We call on the Syrian government to work with the United States to end Austin’s captivity.”

U.S. officials told McClatchy this week that the government’s knowledge of Tice’s condition and whereabouts remain unchanged.

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©2024 McClatchy Washington Bureau. Visit mcclatchydc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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