Syria Denies Holding Missing American Journalist Austin Tice Syria

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Damascus “denies that it has abducted or is holding any American citizen on its soil.” “The US last week issued misleading and absurd statements by the US president and secretary of state that included baseless accusations against Syria that it has abducted or held US citizens, including former US Marine Austin Tice,” the statement said. Biden’s comments last week came in a statement released by the White House to mark the 10th anniversary of Tice’s kidnapping, which took place while he was in Syria covering its long conflict. Biden’s remarks were the clearest indication yet that the US is confident Tice is being held by President Bashar Assad’s government. “We know for certain that he was being held by the Syrian government,” Biden said in a statement last week. “We have repeatedly asked the Syrian government to work with us so we can bring Austin home.” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday that the US government had pressed Syria to return every American. In Tice’s case in particular, he said, the Biden administration has been “extensively involved — and that includes directly — with Syrian officials and through third parties. “Syria has never acknowledged that it held him,” Price said of Tice, adding that “we are not going to be deterred in our efforts. We will pursue every avenue to ensure Austin’s safe return.” The Syrian Foreign Ministry denied in a statement that it had secret contacts with US officials about the missing Americans, adding that “any official dialogue with the US government will be public only based on respect for Syria’s sovereignty”. In May, a top Lebanese security official, General Abbas Ibrahim, met with US officials in Washington as part of US-Syrian mediation efforts to secure Tice’s release. Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s general security directorate, has brokered complicated hostage releases in the past. In May, Biden met with Tice’s parents and reiterated his commitment to work toward “Austin’s long overdue return to his family.” In the final months of the Trump administration, two US officials – including the administration’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, a former army special forces officer – made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information about Tice and other Americans who have disappeared in Syria . It was the highest-level negotiation in years between the US and the Assad government, although Syrian officials did not offer substantive information about Tice. Tice disappeared shortly after his 31st birthday on August 14, 2012 at a checkpoint in a disputed area west of the capital Damascus. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men, saying: “Oh, Jesus.” Nothing has been heard since. Tice is one of two Americans lost in Syria. The other is Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia who disappeared in Syria in 2017. Tice is from Houston and his work has been published by the Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and other outlets. He went to Syria to cover the conflict that began in 2011. The war has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced nearly half of the pre-conflict population of 23 million. More than 5 million of them are outside the country.

title: “Syria Denies Holding Missing American Journalist Austin Tice Syria Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-08” author: “Sam Carollo”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Damascus “denies that it has abducted or is holding any American citizen on its soil.” “The US last week issued misleading and absurd statements by the US president and secretary of state that included baseless accusations against Syria that it has abducted or held US citizens, including former US Marine Austin Tice,” the statement said. Biden’s comments last week came in a statement released by the White House to mark the 10th anniversary of Tice’s kidnapping, which took place while he was in Syria covering its long conflict. Biden’s remarks were the clearest indication yet that the US is confident Tice is being held by President Bashar Assad’s government. “We know for certain that he was being held by the Syrian government,” Biden said in a statement last week. “We have repeatedly asked the Syrian government to work with us so we can bring Austin home.” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday that the US government had pressed Syria to return every American. In Tice’s case in particular, he said, the Biden administration has been “extensively involved — and that includes directly — with Syrian officials and through third parties. “Syria has never acknowledged that it held him,” Price said of Tice, adding that “we are not going to be deterred in our efforts. We will pursue every avenue to ensure Austin’s safe return.” The Syrian Foreign Ministry denied in a statement that it had secret contacts with US officials about the missing Americans, adding that “any official dialogue with the US government will be public only based on respect for Syria’s sovereignty”. In May, a top Lebanese security official, General Abbas Ibrahim, met with US officials in Washington as part of US-Syrian mediation efforts to secure Tice’s release. Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s general security directorate, has brokered complicated hostage releases in the past. In May, Biden met with Tice’s parents and reiterated his commitment to work toward “Austin’s long overdue return to his family.” In the final months of the Trump administration, two US officials – including the administration’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, a former army special forces officer – made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information about Tice and other Americans who have disappeared in Syria . It was the highest-level negotiation in years between the US and the Assad government, although Syrian officials did not offer substantive information about Tice. Tice disappeared shortly after his 31st birthday on August 14, 2012 at a checkpoint in a disputed area west of the capital Damascus. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men, saying: “Oh, Jesus.” Nothing has been heard since. Tice is one of two Americans lost in Syria. The other is Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia who disappeared in Syria in 2017. Tice is from Houston and his work has been published by the Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and other outlets. He went to Syria to cover the conflict that began in 2011. The war has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced nearly half of the pre-conflict population of 23 million. More than 5 million of them are outside the country.

title: “Syria Denies Holding Missing American Journalist Austin Tice Syria Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-12” author: “Roxanne Girard”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Damascus “denies that it has abducted or is holding any American citizen on its soil.” “The US last week issued misleading and absurd statements by the US president and secretary of state that included baseless accusations against Syria that it has abducted or held US citizens, including former US Marine Austin Tice,” the statement said. Biden’s comments last week came in a statement released by the White House to mark the 10th anniversary of Tice’s kidnapping, which took place while he was in Syria covering its long conflict. Biden’s remarks were the clearest indication yet that the US is confident Tice is being held by President Bashar Assad’s government. “We know for certain that he was being held by the Syrian government,” Biden said in a statement last week. “We have repeatedly asked the Syrian government to work with us so we can bring Austin home.” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday that the US government had pressed Syria to return every American. In Tice’s case in particular, he said, the Biden administration has been “extensively involved — and that includes directly — with Syrian officials and through third parties. “Syria has never acknowledged that it held him,” Price said of Tice, adding that “we are not going to be deterred in our efforts. We will pursue every avenue to ensure Austin’s safe return.” The Syrian Foreign Ministry denied in a statement that it had secret contacts with US officials about the missing Americans, adding that “any official dialogue with the US government will be public only based on respect for Syria’s sovereignty”. In May, a top Lebanese security official, General Abbas Ibrahim, met with US officials in Washington as part of US-Syrian mediation efforts to secure Tice’s release. Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s general security directorate, has brokered complicated hostage releases in the past. In May, Biden met with Tice’s parents and reiterated his commitment to work toward “Austin’s long overdue return to his family.” In the final months of the Trump administration, two US officials – including the administration’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, a former army special forces officer – made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information about Tice and other Americans who have disappeared in Syria . It was the highest-level negotiation in years between the US and the Assad government, although Syrian officials did not offer substantive information about Tice. Tice disappeared shortly after his 31st birthday on August 14, 2012 at a checkpoint in a disputed area west of the capital Damascus. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men, saying: “Oh, Jesus.” Nothing has been heard since. Tice is one of two Americans lost in Syria. The other is Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia who disappeared in Syria in 2017. Tice is from Houston and his work has been published by the Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and other outlets. He went to Syria to cover the conflict that began in 2011. The war has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced nearly half of the pre-conflict population of 23 million. More than 5 million of them are outside the country.

title: “Syria Denies Holding Missing American Journalist Austin Tice Syria Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-19” author: “Connie Webb”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Damascus “denies that it has abducted or is holding any American citizen on its soil.” “The US last week issued misleading and absurd statements by the US president and secretary of state that included baseless accusations against Syria that it has abducted or held US citizens, including former US Marine Austin Tice,” the statement said. Biden’s comments last week came in a statement released by the White House to mark the 10th anniversary of Tice’s kidnapping, which took place while he was in Syria covering its long conflict. Biden’s remarks were the clearest indication yet that the US is confident Tice is being held by President Bashar Assad’s government. “We know for certain that he was being held by the Syrian government,” Biden said in a statement last week. “We have repeatedly asked the Syrian government to work with us so we can bring Austin home.” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday that the US government had pressed Syria to return every American. In Tice’s case in particular, he said, the Biden administration has been “extensively involved — and that includes directly — with Syrian officials and through third parties. “Syria has never acknowledged that it held him,” Price said of Tice, adding that “we are not going to be deterred in our efforts. We will pursue every avenue to ensure Austin’s safe return.” The Syrian Foreign Ministry denied in a statement that it had secret contacts with US officials about the missing Americans, adding that “any official dialogue with the US government will be public only based on respect for Syria’s sovereignty”. In May, a top Lebanese security official, General Abbas Ibrahim, met with US officials in Washington as part of US-Syrian mediation efforts to secure Tice’s release. Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s general security directorate, has brokered complicated hostage releases in the past. In May, Biden met with Tice’s parents and reiterated his commitment to work toward “Austin’s long overdue return to his family.” In the final months of the Trump administration, two US officials – including the administration’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, a former army special forces officer – made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information about Tice and other Americans who have disappeared in Syria . It was the highest-level negotiation in years between the US and the Assad government, although Syrian officials did not offer substantive information about Tice. Tice disappeared shortly after his 31st birthday on August 14, 2012 at a checkpoint in a disputed area west of the capital Damascus. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men, saying: “Oh, Jesus.” Nothing has been heard since. Tice is one of two Americans lost in Syria. The other is Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia who disappeared in Syria in 2017. Tice is from Houston and his work has been published by the Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and other outlets. He went to Syria to cover the conflict that began in 2011. The war has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced nearly half of the pre-conflict population of 23 million. More than 5 million of them are outside the country.

title: “Syria Denies Holding Missing American Journalist Austin Tice Syria Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-22” author: “Betsy Cooper”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Damascus “denies that it has abducted or is holding any American citizen on its soil.” “The US last week issued misleading and absurd statements by the US president and secretary of state that included baseless accusations against Syria that it has abducted or held US citizens, including former US Marine Austin Tice,” the statement said. Biden’s comments last week came in a statement released by the White House to mark the 10th anniversary of Tice’s kidnapping, which took place while he was in Syria covering its long conflict. Biden’s remarks were the clearest indication yet that the US is confident Tice is being held by President Bashar Assad’s government. “We know for certain that he was being held by the Syrian government,” Biden said in a statement last week. “We have repeatedly asked the Syrian government to work with us so we can bring Austin home.” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday that the US government had pressed Syria to return every American. In Tice’s case in particular, he said, the Biden administration has been “extensively involved — and that includes directly — with Syrian officials and through third parties. “Syria has never acknowledged that it held him,” Price said of Tice, adding that “we are not going to be deterred in our efforts. We will pursue every avenue to ensure Austin’s safe return.” The Syrian Foreign Ministry denied in a statement that it had secret contacts with US officials about the missing Americans, adding that “any official dialogue with the US government will be public only based on respect for Syria’s sovereignty”. In May, a top Lebanese security official, General Abbas Ibrahim, met with US officials in Washington as part of US-Syrian mediation efforts to secure Tice’s release. Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s general security directorate, has brokered complicated hostage releases in the past. In May, Biden met with Tice’s parents and reiterated his commitment to work toward “Austin’s long overdue return to his family.” In the final months of the Trump administration, two US officials – including the administration’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, a former army special forces officer – made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information about Tice and other Americans who have disappeared in Syria . It was the highest-level negotiation in years between the US and the Assad government, although Syrian officials did not offer substantive information about Tice. Tice disappeared shortly after his 31st birthday on August 14, 2012 at a checkpoint in a disputed area west of the capital Damascus. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men, saying: “Oh, Jesus.” Nothing has been heard since. Tice is one of two Americans lost in Syria. The other is Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia who disappeared in Syria in 2017. Tice is from Houston and his work has been published by the Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and other outlets. He went to Syria to cover the conflict that began in 2011. The war has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced nearly half of the pre-conflict population of 23 million. More than 5 million of them are outside the country.