- Austin Tice was kidnapped in August 2012 while reporting from Syria
U.S. officials are working with contacts inside Syria to find Austin Tice, an American journalist who was captured in the war-torn country 12 years ago, a top White House official said.
Hopes for his rescue faded over the years with no confirmed sightings.
But on Sunday, President Joe Biden said he believed the former US Marine was still alive.
His national security adviser said Monday that officials were working with people on the ground following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime.
“This is a top priority for us…finding Austin Tice, locating the jail where he may be held, getting him out and getting him home safely to his family,” Jake Sullivan told ABC’s Good Morning America.
“We’ve offered a reward to anyone who can provide information, and we’re talking through the Turks and others to people on the ground in Syria to say, help us with this, help us get Austin Tice home.”
The FBI reissued the $1 million reward for information leading to his safe recovery and return.
Tice was 31 when he was kidnapped in August 2012 while in Damascus reporting on the uprising against Assad, who was eventually ousted by Syrian rebels on Sunday.
Austin Tice, a former US Marine and freelance journalist, was kidnapped on August 14, 2012 while covering the civil war in Syria.
The FBI has reissued its offer of a $1 million reward for information leading to his safe return
A crowd descended on Sednaya Prison, where thousands of people are said to have been held and tortured by the Assad regime over the past decade.
Syrian officials had always denied he was in their custody.
In a prepared speech on Syria on Sunday, Biden raised his case.
“We are aware that there are Americans in Syria, including those living there, as well as Austin Tice, who was captured more than 12 years ago.
“We remain committed to returning him to his family,” he said, in language consistent with other officials who have said in the past they had no evidence he was alive.
But moments later, Biden went further in response to questions from reporters.
“We believe he is still alive,” he said. “We think we can get him back, but we don’t have any direct evidence of that yet.”
Meanwhile, Syrian prisoners are clearing out their political prisoners.
“Austin Tice is alive, in Syria, and it’s time for him to come home,” said his parents Marc and Debra Tice.
Trump’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said rescuing Tice was “a top priority.”
“We eagerly look forward to seeing Austin walk free and we ask anyone who can to do so to please help Austin so he can return home safely to our family.”
The Assad regime collapsed this weekend when the armed Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham stormed into the capital Damascus.
Assad is said to have been granted political asylum by his allies in Moscow.
In the wake of his departure, crowds flocked to Sednaya prison to find relatives who had been missing since the early years of the civil war.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimated this year that 130,000 people were arbitrarily arrested or detained during the conflict.