Austin Tice’s mother hopes that the new US and Syrian administration will help find him, according to Reuters

By Jana Choukeir

DUBAI (Reuters) – The mother of American journalist Austin Tice said on Monday she hoped new administrations in the United States and Syria would help her find her missing son, who was taken captive on a reporting trip near Damascus 12 years ago.

“Today, January 20, President (Donald) Trump will be sworn in and I have high hopes that his administration will work to bring Austin home,” Debra Tees said at a press conference held in Damascus by the NGO Hostage Aid International.

She said she was encouraged by the fact that officials in the new US government had already reached out to her about her missing son.

Teece criticized the administration of US President Joe Biden for not negotiating enough for her son’s release even in recent months.

Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and other publications, was one of the first American journalists to enter Syria after the civil war broke out in 2011.

She visited Syrian authorities in 2015 to contact Syrian authorities about her son before they stopped issuing visas.

The ouster of veteran leader Bashar al-Assad by Syrian rebels in December allowed her to visit again from her home in Texas.

Tiss added that she had met with the new Syrian leaders on Sunday, who she said had shown “commitment” to the return of her son. “The new administration knows what we’re going through and they’re trying to make things right for people like us,” she said.

However, Tees said that the ousting of Assad on December 8 has complicated the process of finding her son. Because it makes it difficult to know where and by whom her son is being held.

“It’s like we’re at the beginning again,” she said.

“It was 12 years ago that I couldn’t see him or talk to him, but I know he’s here. Austin, if somehow you hear this, I love you. I know you’re never going to give up and neither am I,” she added.

The US State Department announced last week that there is currently no US government agency involved in the search for TES in Syria.

Tis was the subject of a massive manhunt following the ouster of Assad in December after 13 years of civil war.

U.S. officials have expressed concern that Tiss may have been killed in a recent Israeli airstrike or kidnapped after Assad’s forces overran the prison in Damascus before his release.

He was arrested in the city of Daraya, Damascus. As reported earlier by Reuters, In 2013, Tis ex-marine managed to sneak out of his room and was seen moving between houses in the upscale Mazeh neighborhood of Damascus.

He was recaptured shortly after his escape, likely by forces that answer directly to Assad, current and former US officials said. Syrian authorities have never confirmed that Tiss is in their possession. of New York Times (NYSE: ) first reported that short breakout and recapture.

Tens of thousands of Syrian prisoners have been released from Assad’s prisons since the end of his oppressive regime.