(9 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC, U.S. - 6 December 2024
1. Various STILLS of Marc Tice, the father of Austin Tice, a journalist who was kidnapped in Syria, speaks to the media about his son's condition, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon - 4 December 2018
2. Various STILLS of Austin Tice visible in foreground as Marc and Debra Tice, the parents of Austin Tice speak during a press conference, at the Press Club, in Beirut, Lebanon, Dec. 4, 2018
STORYLINE:
President Joe Biden said Sunday that the U.S. government believes missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital, is alive and that Washington is committed to bringing him home after Bashar Assad’s ouster from power in Damascus.
“We think we can get him back," Biden told reporters at the White House, while acknowledging that “we have no direct evidence” of his status. "Assad should be held accountable.”
Biden said officials must still identify exactly where Tice is after his disappearance in August 2012 at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus.
Tice, who is from Houston, has had his work published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets.
A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, “Oh, Jesus.” He has not been heard from since. Syria has publicly denied that it was holding him.
The United States has no new evidence that Tice is alive, but continues to operate under that assumption, according to a U.S. official. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. will continue to work to identify where he is and to try to bring him home.
His mother, Debra, said at a news conference Friday in Washington that the family had information from a “significant source,” whom she did not identify, establishing that her son was alive.
The Tice family met this past week with officials at the State Department and the White House.
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