The family of American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria more than a decade ago, said Monday that they have information he is alive and believe it's only a matter of time until they are reunited.
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 masked men holding him at gunpoint. 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.
The family received intel before the rebels overtook Assad's government that Austin Tice was not only alive but also well cared for, parents Debra and Marc Tice said Monday in an interview with "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt."
But there's no clarity about who is holding Austin Tice, Debra Tice said.
"We're just waiting to see, because they're attending to the prisons little by little — and some of the larger prisons, we know those are not places that Austin is," she said.
President Joe Biden expressed hope Sunday that the journalist, 43, would come home.
“We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet,” Biden told reporters.
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.
Hadi al-Bahra, president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, told NBC News that the transitional government would make it a priority to investigate the whereabouts of those who disappeared under the Assad regime.
Marc Tice believes there is every indication that the new leadership is committed to the return of foreign prisoners as the rebel groups have publicly said.
"It's just as Debra said, a matter of time," he said. "They have to go through a lot of locations and, you know, do a lot of door opening. And we're sure Austin is behind one of those doors."
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.
“The assumption we’re working under is that he’s still alive,” Kirby said. “But the truth is we want to get more information about him, about his whereabouts, certainly about the conditions which he may be held.”
Siblings Meagan Tice Malone and Simon Robert Tice told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Monday that they are hopeful their brother will be home soon and will fill a void that has dramatically altered their lives.
“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.”
The siblings described their brother, a onetime Marine, as an intelligent and compassionate man who felt a duty to go to Syria and report on the civil war.
“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.
