The UD Department of State has stated that the Syrian regime has something to offer regarding the release of American journalist Austin Tice, who has been detained in Syria for years.
In a press conference on Thursday, September 19, in response to reporters’ questions, the Department’s Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Washington is aware that the Syrian regime detained Austin Tice, pointing out that his country has repeatedly offered to find a way to return him to the United States.
Miller added, “We also believe that the Syrian government can help end Austin’s captivity and provide a report not only on his whereabouts but also on the fate of other Americans who have gone missing in Syria.”
He also noted that the case of Austin Tice and other Americans detained in Syria is “highly personal,” not only for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken but also for US President Joe Biden.
According to Miller, the United States will continue working on this matter around the clock.
The spokesperson did not comment on the details of the offers Washington made to the Syrian regime for Tice’s release.
Tice is a former Marine and photojournalist who chose to travel to Syria to report news for American media, including CBS and The Washington Post.
He was arrested at a checkpoint outside Damascus on August 13, 2012. A special source told Enab Baladi earlier that Tice met with a group of civil activists and members of the Free Syrian Army in the city of Darayya, south of Damascus, conducted an exclusive interview with them, prepared his report, then the members accompanied him outside the city, after which he disappeared.
He appeared in a video recording a month after his disappearance, handcuffed and blindfolded, accompanied by an armed man.
The United States previously held direct talks with the Syrian regime, as reported by The Wall Street Journal in 2023.
Not the only case
Tice is not the only detainee in Syrian regime prisons; other foreigners are also detained, while others were reported killed under torture in the regime’s prisons.
In June, the US Department of State confirmed the death of Syrian-American citizen Majd Kam Almaz in the regime’s detention centers after he disappeared in Damascus seven years ago.
The American confirmation came about a month after reports by the Associated Press and The New York Times that Majd Kam Almaz had died in regime prisons after disappearing in Damascus seven years ago.
On June 12, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “Today, we honor Majd Kam Almaz, the American who died while being detained in Syria,” and the American administration raised the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Flag above the White House, the Department of State, the Capitol, and the Pentagon.
In August 2019, the regime freed a Canadian citizen who had been detained since December 2018, with the mediation of the Director General of the Lebanese General Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim.
In a similar mediation, Ibrahim facilitated the release of American tourist Sam Goodwin, 30, after two months of detention in Syria in July 2019.
The regime had previously executed Layla Shweikani, an IT engineer holding both Syrian and American citizenships, who was 26 years old on December 28, 2016. Her family was informed of her death in November 2018 after a “30-second” trial on charges of plotting to assassinate Syrian government figures.
According to its second annual report published on March 25, the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, named after a journalist killed in Syria in 2014, which is active in efforts to free hostages, reported that four Americans were killed in Syria in 2011 and 2012, including journalists.