US envoy travels to seek journalist Tice in Syria

The US vowed to make all efforts to bring back journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria in 2012

The US is rushing to uncover new information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice following the collapse of the Syrian government at the weekend.

One US official told CNN that there was a “full-court press” to find Tice, a US marine veteran and freelance journalist, and the US was “leaving no stone unturned”.

The FBI on Sunday renewed its offer of up to $US1m for information leading to Tice’s safe return. The US State Department is also offering a reward of up to $US10m for information on Tice.

Top US hostage negotiator Roger Carstens has travelled to Beirut, Lebanon, to engage with stakeholders there. The US has conveyed to the leading rebel group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, that Tice was a priority.

“In all of our communications with parties that we know talk to HTS, we have sent very clearly the message that, as they move through Syria liberating prisons, our top priority is the return of Austin Tice,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

The US believes Tice was held by the Assad regime but the Syrian leader never acknowledged detaining him. The US is operating under the assumption Tice is alive as they have “no information to the contrary”, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.

Tice’s mother last week said the family had new information that her son was “being cared for, and he is well”.

The fall of the Assad regime led to thousands of prisoners pouring out of Syria’s labyrinthine prison system, and the Biden administration is hoping Tice was among them.

What remains unclear is how Tice, if he were to successfully escape detention, would get out of Syria – and what the US would do to help him.

There are roughly 900 US soldiers in Syria, but none is near the capital, where his family said he was being held.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the US was working with countries near Syria to secure Tice’s return.

The Biden administration has already reached an agreement in Syria since the collapse of the Assad regime, securing safe passage for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces operating in the eastern part of the country, US officials said.

The Wall Street Journal