US Envoy Visiting Syria to Try to Bring Missing Journalist Austin Tice Home

American freelance journalist Austin Tice, who had been reporting for American news organizations in Syria until his disappearance in August 2012, prays in Arabic and English while blindfolded in the presence of gunmen, in a still from undated video posted to YouTube. AP Photo

WASHINGTON—U.S. Special Envoy Roger Carstens is currently in Syria in an effort to bring home journalist Austin Tice after 12 years in captivity, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Dec. 9, saying that “intensive efforts are underway.”

This comes following the collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad over the weekend. Tice’s mother, Debra Tice, said that her son is alive, citing a “significant source.”

“He is being cared for and he is well—we do know that,” she said on Dec. 6 at the National Press Club in Washington.

In a statement, released by the club’s Press Freedom Center on Dec. 9, Debra Tice and her husband, Marc Tice, expressed hope that their son will be able to return home.

“We are watching the events unfold in Syria and seeing families reunited with their loved ones after years of separation,” she said.

“We know this is possible for our family, too. Austin Tice is alive, in Syria, and it’s time for him to come home,” she said. “We are eagerly anticipating seeing Austin walk free and we are asking anyone who can do so to please assist Austin so he can safely return home to our family.”

President Joe Biden said in an address to the nation on Dec. 8 that the United States believes that Tice is still alive despite there being “no direct evidence” to prove it.

During a State Department press briefing on Dec. 9, Miller said the United States “will not rest until he is returned home safely to his loved ones.”

Tice, a freelancer, was taken captive in Syria in 2012. A video from that year shows him blindfolded and in captivity. The Assad government denied having kept him in captivity.

White House National Security Communications adviser John Kirby told MSNBC on Dec. 9 that there is more work to be done when it comes to bringing Tice home.

“That’s still the assumption we’re working under—is that he’s still alive,” he said. “But the truth is we want to get more information about him, about his whereabouts, certainly about the conditions [under] which he may be held.”

The Assad regime was toppled by a group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, an organization classified by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group. It is led by Muhammad al-Jawlani, who is wanted by the United States, which has offered $10 million for information leading to his capture or assassination.