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The mother of Austin Tice, one American journalist Missing in Syria for more than a decade, she said Friday she was confident her son was alive, citing information she said came from a “major source” she did not identify but said had been vetted by the US government and treated as credible. .
“He is being cared for and doing well – we know that,” Debra Tice said.
Tice’s mother and other family members spoke Friday at an event following a White House meeting with national security officials, which took place amid ongoing unrest in the country. SyriaAs rebel fighters who have already captured the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest, continue their advance against President Bashar Assad’s forces.
‘The news we hear from the Middle East is the kind of thing that can upset a mother,” Debra Tice said, later adding, “When I think about war, I never have a happy moment.”
Austin Tice’s sister, Naomi, said she asked officials if there was a way to use the unrest to secure Austin’s freedom. “We were basically just told to wait and see how it would turn out” – a response she said may have been “understandable” but “beyond frustrating.”
Tice’s father, Marc, echoed that sentiment, noting that meetings this week with White House and State Department officials had devolved into finger-pointing and frustration.
“We’ve seen what real engagement looks like. We’ve seen it in Russia. We have seen it in China, we have seen it in Venezuela, we see it in Gaza,” he said, referring to places where hostages have been released in recent months. “And we have yet to see.”
He also declined to speak about the information indicating his son was alive, but said: “We are confident this information is new. Earlier this year it was already indicated that Austin is still alive and that he is being cared for. And we hope to make as much of it public as possible.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Friday that the Tice family had met with Biden administration national security adviser Jake Sullivan, but said she was not aware of the details of what transpired said.
“Austin Tice’s family, I can’t even imagine what they’re going through,” she said.
Tice, a native of Houston whose work has been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other media, disappeared in August 2012 at a checkpoint in a disputed area west of Damascus.
A video released weeks later showed him blindfolded and held down by armed men, saying, “O Jesus.” Nothing has been heard from him since. Syria has publicly denied holding him.
In the final months of the Trump administration, two U.S. officials — Roger Carstens, the administration’s top hostage negotiator, and Kash Patel, now Trump’s pick to lead the FBI — made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information about Tice and other Americans who disappeared in Syria.
It was the highest-level conversation in years between the US and Assad’s government, although Syrian officials provided no meaningful information about Tice.
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