US believes Marine vet is alive after disappearing in Syria in 2012

President Joe Biden mentioned Sunday that the U.S. authorities believes lacking American journalist and Marine Corps veteran Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years in the past close to the Syrian capital, is alive and that Washington is dedicated to bringing him residence after Bashar Assad’s ouster from energy in Damascus.

“We predict we are able to get him again,” Biden informed reporters on the White Home, whereas acknowledging that “we’ve no direct proof” of his standing. “Assad needs to be held accountable.”

Biden mentioned officers should nonetheless determine precisely the place Tice is after his disappearance in August 2012 at a checkpoint in a contested space west of Damascus.

“We have remained dedicated to returning him to his household,” he mentioned.

Tice commissioned as a Marine officer in 2005 and served a number of Center East deployments earlier than concluding his time within the Marine Corps Reserve as a captain, together with an Afghanistan tour with 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Firm in 2011.

He returned to the area as a contract journalist in 2012.

Tice, who’s from Houston, has had his work printed by The Washington Submit, McClatchy newspapers and different shops.

A video launched weeks after Tice went lacking confirmed him blindfolded and held by armed males and saying, “Oh, Jesus.” He has not been heard from since. Syria has publicly denied that it was holding him.

The USA has no new proof that Tice is alive, however continues to function beneath that assumption, in response to a U.S. official. The official, who was not approved to remark publicly and spoke on situation of anonymity, mentioned the U.S. will proceed to work to determine the place he’s and to attempt to deliver him residence.

His mom, Debra, mentioned at a information convention Friday in Washington that the household had data from a “important supply,” whom she didn’t determine, establishing that her son was alive.

“He’s being cared for and he’s nicely — we do know that,” she mentioned.

The Tice household met this previous week with officers on the State Division and the White Home.

“To everybody in Syria that hears this, please remind those who we’re ready for Austin,” Debra Tice mentioned in feedback that hostage advocacy teams unfold on social media Sunday. “We all know that when he comes out, he’s going to be pretty dazed and he’s going to wish plenty of care and course. Direct him to his household please!”

Army Instances’ Todd South contributed to this report.