In the aftermath of the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria, U.S. officials say they continue to work to locate American journalist Austin Tice, who has been detained in the country for more than 12 years.
“There are intensive efforts under way by the United States to find Austin Tice and bring him home to his family,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Monday.
He added that Roger Carstens, U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, is currently in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, working to secure Tice’s release.
“We will not rest until [Tice] is returned home safely to his loved ones,” said Miller.
The rapid ousting of Assad has fostered cautious hope among Tice’s family that he will be released soon.
“What we’re hoping is that as people that are coming into Damascus are opening the prisons, that by the power of God, they’ll open the one that Austin’s in,” Tice’s mother, Debra, told VOA on Sunday. “We’re already believing that the door is going to be open.”
Citing a source vetted by the U.S. government, she told VOA that her son is being held in a prison in Damascus.
Debra Tice has for years criticized the U.S. government for what she says is a long-term failure to do enough to secure her son’s release.
Led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Syrian rebels declared that they had toppled Assad after seizing control of the capital, Damascus, on Sunday. The move prompted Assad to flee, ending his family’s decades-long autocratic rule, including more than 13 years of civil war.
Over the past week, rebels took control of the major Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama, and finally the capital. In those cities, thousands of prisoners have been released from prisons run by the now-deposed Assad government.
The Syrian opposition plans to establish a commission to find Tice and others who disappeared under the Assad government, the coalition leader told NBC News.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States is working with regional partners to underscore to all parties the need to protect civilian populations.
“We continue to seek information about Austin Tice so that we can find him and bring him home to his family,” Blinken said Monday at the State Department.
A Texas native and former U.S. Marine, Tice has been held in Syria since 2012, when he was detained at a checkpoint in Damascus. Aside from a brief video after his capture, little has been heard or seen of him since.
President Joe Biden on Sunday also reaffirmed his commitment to securing Tice’s release from Syria.
“We remain committed to returning him to his family,” he said in remarks at the White House.
“We believe he is alive. We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet,” the president added.
In response to a question about a potential rescue operation to retrieve Tice, Biden said the U.S. first must identify where he is located.
The FBI said Sunday that it is still offering a reward of up to $1 million for information that leads to Tice’s safe return.
Tice is an award-winning freelance journalist and photographer who works for outlets that include The Washington Post, CBS and McClatchy. He is the longest-held American journalist abroad.
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