Written by Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was captured on a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, expressed hope on Sunday that the unrest in Syria will lead to her son’s freedom.
Debra Tice said the news that Missouri resident Travis Timmerman had been freed from a Syrian prison by rebels “felt like a rehearsal.” When images of Timmerman, mistakenly identified as Tice, began circulating on social media, children woke her up.
When asked if Timmerman’s misidentification was a moment of false hope, Debra Theis instead characterized it as a moment of joy that should be shared. Timmerman said he traveled to Syria on a spiritual mission earlier this year and was arrested for illegal entry.
“It felt like we were rehearsing it… just a little taste of what it would actually be like when Austin walks free,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Tais has become the focus of a massive manhunt following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week after a 13-year civil war. Rebels led by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have released thousands of people from a Damascus prison where President Assad was holding political opponents, civilians and foreigners.
A week after Assad’s ouster, some U.S. officials are concerned that Tice may have been killed during a recent Israeli airstrike. Officials also said that if Taïs had been held in an underground cell, there may have been a lack of breathable air, as Assad’s forces cut off electricity in many of Damascus’s prisons before the president escaped. I am concerned that there is.
Asked whether the U.S. government should be searching for Tais on the ground in Syria, Debra Theis was cautious, thanking the efforts of journalists and other civilians on the ground searching for Tais. expressed his intention.
“The U.S. government has made a decision not to go to Damascus. So my feeling is that if they don’t want to be there, they shouldn’t be there. And the people who are there, they are in Damascus. It’s the people. They’re determined,” she said.
Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was one of the first American journalists to enter Syria after the civil war broke out.
In August 2012, he was captured during fighting in Aleppo.
A few weeks later, a YouTube video was released showing Theis blindfolded and with his hands tied behind his back. He was taken up a hill by armed men in Afghani garb, shouting “God is great”, apparently in an attempt to get him because of Islamic rebels. The video only gained attention when it was posted on Facebook (NASDAQ). 🙂 Pages related to Assad supporters.
On Friday, Reuters first reported that Tais, a former marine, was seen breaking out of his cell in 2013 and moving between houses on the streets of Damascus’s upscale Mazzeh district.
