Austin Tice’s mother voices newfound hope that Syria will release her son

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was captured during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, expressed hope Sunday that the uprisings in Syria will lead to her son’s freedom.

Debra Tice tells Missouri resident news Travis Timmerman His release from a prison in Syria by rebels felt “like a rehearsal”. Her children woke her up when images of Timmerman circulated on social media, misidentifying her as Tice.

When asked if Timmerman’s misidentification was a moment of false hope, Debra Tice instead called it a moment of joy that needed to be shared. Timmerman said he traveled to Syria on a spiritual mission earlier this year and was arrested for illegally entering the country.

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Austin Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was captured during a reporting trip to Syria in 2012. His mother (pictured) had expressed hope on Sunday that the uprising in Syria would lead to her son’s freedom. (Evelyn Hockstein)

“It was almost like a rehearsal … a hint of how Austin would really feel once he was free,” he told NBC television’s “Meet the Press.”

Tice is the focus of a massive search following the overthrow of the Syrian President Bashar Assad Last week after 13 years of civil war. Rebels led by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have freed thousands of people from prisons in Damascus, where Assad was holding political opponents, ordinary civilians and foreigners.

A week after Assad’s ouster, some US officials fear Tice may have been killed during Israel’s latest airstrikes. Authorities also fear that if Tice was held in an underground cell, he might have run out of breathable air because Assad’s forces cut off electricity to many prisons in Damascus before the president escaped.

Debra Tice said the news that Travis Timmerman was recently released from prison in Syria gave her newfound hope that her son Austin Tice would be released. (Tom Williams/CQ-Polling)

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Asked if US government should search Tice on the ground in SyriaDebra Tice remained cautious and expressed gratitude for the efforts of journalists, including the organization Hostage Aid Worldwide, and other civilians searching for her on the ground.

“The US government has decided not to go to Damascus. So in my opinion, if they don’t want to be there, they shouldn’t be there. And the people who are there are the people who are there. We are determined,” he said.

Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was one of the first U.S. journalists to travel to Syria after the outbreak of the civil war.

Debra Tice holds a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington on May 2, 2023. (Evelyn Hockstein)

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He was captured during the clashes in Aleppo in August 2012.

Weeks later, a YouTube video was released showing Tice blindfolded and with his hands tied behind his back. He was taken to a hill by armed men dressed in Afghan garb and shouted “God is great” in an attempt to blame Islamist rebels for his capture, but the video only gained attention when it was posted on a relevant Facebook page. with Assad supporters.

On Friday, Reuters was first to report that Tice, a former marine, managed to escape from his cell in 2013 and was seen wandering from house to house on the streets of Damascus’ upscale Mazzeh district.