President Joe Biden said he knew with “certainty” that an American journalist who had been missing for 10 years was being held by the Syrian government and called on Damascus leaders to release him.
Biden commented statement August 1 marked the 10th anniversary of the arrest of journalist Austin Tice.
A contributor to CBS News, the Washington Post, McClatchy, and a series of news outlets, Tais, who served as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps, was kidnapped near Damascus on August 14, 2012, while covering Syrian terrorism. rice field. civil war.
Five weeks later, a 43-second video appeared on social media titled “Austin Tice is Alive.” It showed a distressed, blindfolded Thais being held by a group of unidentified armed men. There was no other message accompanying the video and it was the last time he was seen.
In a statement Wednesday, Biden said Tice was “a son, a brother, an investigative journalist who put the truth before himself and traveled to Syria to show the world the true cost of war.” .
“It is certain that he is being held by the Syrian government,” Biden said.
The president called on the Syrian government to help Thaïs return home, stating, “In my administration, no priority will be given to the recovery and return of Americans held hostage or unlawfully held abroad. ” and said he had promised Tyce’s parents for his recovery and recovery. Returns priority.
“The Tice family deserve answers and more importantly they deserve to be reunited with Austin quickly. We are with Austin’s many loved ones and cannot rest until we bring Austin home.” No, 10 years is too far, even every other day,” Biden said.
Tice is considered to be the longest-running American journalist of all time.
No approval from Assad
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has not confirmed that the government is in Thaïs custody and has denied any involvement in his disappearance, while other groups have not claimed responsibility for the abduction. There is no public information about its whereabouts.
However, Tice’s family, along with the U.S. government and other credible sources, believe that: austin is alive And we are confident that the Syrian government will be able to assist him in his safe return.
The U.S. government has up to $ 1,000,000 Seeking information directly leading to Tice’s whereabouts, recovery, and safe return.
Tice, who turned 41 on August 11, grew up in Houston and was a law student at Georgetown University when she disappeared. He had been in Syria for 83 days before being detained at a checkpoint in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, en route to Lebanon.
During her tenure, Tice’s parents, Mark Tice and Debra Tice, thanked President Donald Trump for his efforts to find Tice after he took special interest in the case.
In an interview on August 10th CBS News, Debra Tice has called on the Biden administration to do more to bring her son home, claiming it has not done enough to work with the Syrian government to bring her son back home safely. .
“The U.S. government has worked very hard to convince me that they are working on it.
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Katabella Roberts is a news writer for The Epoch Times, focusing primarily on US, world and business news.