American journalist Austin Tice is alive and in Syria more than a decade after his disappearance, his family says.
Tice went missing in 2012 a few days after celebrating his 31st birthday in the country, where he went to report on the civil war that began in 2011. Video surfaced shortly after his disappearance showing him being held at gunpoint by masked men. The U.S. government cast doubt on whether the video was authentic and suggested it may have been staged.
The State Department contended that Tice was being held by the Syrian government. Former President Bashar al-Assad’s government vehemently denied the accusation.
With Assad’s regime now toppled, Tice’s family has renewed hope that the Houston native may finally return home.
Siblings Meagan Tice Malone and Simon Robert Tice on Monday told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that the family has reliable information that their brother is alive but could not share how they know.
“We have had independent and verified confirmation,” Malone said. “It’s been verified in many branches of the [U.S. government], that only supports what President Biden has said multiple times now.”
The siblings described their brother, a former Marine, as an intelligent and compassionate man who felt a duty to go to Syria and report on the civil war. Simon Robert was only 19 when his older brother went missing, he said.
“We have a strong faith in the American government, and we were all raised with a faith in the American government,” Simon Robert Tice said. “And we believe as long as he’s not home, there’s always more to be done.”
President Joe Biden addressed the public on Sunday and expressed hope that the journalist, now 43, would come home.
“We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet,” Biden said.
U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens is in Beirut, Lebanon, as part of efforts to bring Austin Tice home, a U.S. official with direct knowledge told NBC News. The official added that the government is reaching out to anyone in Syria or the region who can help.
This is a time of opportunity for people in Syria and people like Austin Tice who went missing, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said Monday on MSNBC
“That’s still the assumptions we’re working under — is that he’s still alive,” Kirby told Andrea Mitchell. “But the truth is we want to get more information about him, about his whereabouts, certainly about the conditions which he which he may be held.”
Hadi al-Bahra, president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, told NBC News on Sunday that the transitional government would make it a priority to investigate the whereabouts of those who disappeared under the Assad regime.
The Tice siblings are hopeful that they will see their brother brought home, filling a void that has dramatically altered the way they are all able to live their lives.
“The only thing we can say is that we are appealing to anyone that has the authority and the ability to reunite our family … and that the right people will do the right thing and bring him home to us,” Malone said.
