The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped while on a reporting mission in Syria in August 2012, expressed hope on Sunday that the turmoil in Syria will lead to her son’s freedom.
Debra Tice said the news that Missouri resident Travis Timmerman had been freed from a Syrian prison by rebels felt like “rehearsal.” Her children woke her up when pictures of Timmerman started circulating on social media disrespecting her like Tice.
Asked if Timmerman’s misidentification was a moment of false hope, Debra Tice instead described it as a moment of joy that should be shared. Timmerman said he had traveled to Syria to do spiritual work earlier this year and was arrested for entering the country illegally.
AMERICAN RELEASED FROM SYRIAN PRISON AFTER ASSAD IS RELEASED BY US PRESIDENT.
Austin Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was kidnapped while on a reporting trip to Syria in 2012. His mother (pictured) expressed hope on Sunday that the turmoil in Syria would lead to her son’s freedom. (Evelyn Hockstein)
“It was almost like having a rehearsal … to understand what it would feel like when Austin walks freely,” he told NBC TV’s “Meet the Press”.
Tice is the focus of a massive manhunt following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week after 13 years of civil war. The rebels, led by the terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, freed thousands of people from prisons in Damascus where Assad is holding political opponents, ordinary citizens and immigrants.
A week after Assad was ousted, some US officials fear that Tice may have been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Officials are also concerned that if Tice had been locked up in a cell, he might have suffocated as Assad’s forces shut off electricity to many prisons in Damascus before the president escaped.
Debra Tice said news of Travis Timmerman’s recent release from prison in Syria has given her new hope that her son Austin Tice will be freed. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call)
POLITICAL PRISONERS IN SYRIA REVEAL THE HARD TRUTH OF BASHAR ASSAD’S REGIME OF SUFFERING
Asked whether the US government should be looking down on Tice in Syria, Debra Tice was cautious, expressing gratitude for the efforts of journalists and other grassroots citizens to find him, including the organization Hostage Aid Worldwide.
“The US government has made a decision that they will not go to Damascus. So, my feeling is, if they don’t want to be there, they shouldn’t be there. And the people there are people like that. They are not willing,” he said.
Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was one of the first US journalists to enter Syria after the civil war broke out.
Debra Tice held a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington on May 2, 2023. (Evelyn Hockstein)
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEWS PROGRAM
In August 2012, during the fighting in Aleppo, he was captured.
Weeks later, a YouTube video was published showing Tice blindfolded, hands tied behind his back. He was led up a mountain by armed men wearing what looked like Afghan clothing and shouting “God is great” in an attempt to blame Muslim rebels for filming him, although the video gained attention when it was posted on a related Facebook page. and Assad’s supporters.
On Friday, Reuters reported for the first time that in 2013 Tice, who served in the Marine Corps, was able to leave his cell and was seen walking between houses in the Damascus streets of Mazzeh.
Source link
