President Biden said Sunday he believes an American journalist missing in Syria since 2012 is alive, and vowed to bring him back in the wake of the fall of President Bashar Assad’s regime.
“We believe he’s alive,” Biden told reporters at the White House about Austin Tice, who vanished 12 years ago in Damascus. “We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet.”
Biden said the U.S. government had all Americans in Syria top of mind.
“We remain committed to returning him to his family,” he said.
As Assad’s rule crumbled, Tice’s family on Friday said they were confident that Tice was still alive, attributing that to a “significant source” they did not reveal.
“He is being cared for and he is well — we do know that,” Debra Tice said.
Tice is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets. Originally from Houston, he had just turned 31 when he vanished while reporting on the country’s brutal civil war.
Weeks later a video surfaced that showed him blindfolded and held by armed men as he muttered, “Oh Jesus.”
AP
In this image taken from undated video, American freelance journalist Austin Tice, who had been reporting for American news organizations in Syria until his disappearance in August 2012, is seen blindfolded in the presence of gunmen. (AP Photo)
While the U.S. government has long believed Tice was being held by forces aligned with the Syrian government, Assad had insisted they did not have him.
Tice’s family has worked tirelessly for his release. U.S. State Department officials have long believed that Tice is alive.
Biden made his statement hours after Assad fled the country on Sunday, ending his 14-year attempt to retain power, and closing out a 50-year dynasty. He was granted asylum in Russia after being ousted by the rebels who had long sought to wrest control from the dictator.
Nearly half a million people have died in the war, and half the prewar population of 23 million people has been displaced.
With News Wire Services
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