New Findings About 13-Year Search for US Reporter Kidnapped in Syria

Ever since Austin Tice was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012 and then soon imprisoned by the Assad regime, his family and three American presidents have tried to find him, The Washington Post reported.

But despite intensive attempts to secure Tice's release or confirm his status, the truth about his fate remains elusive, making his case one of the most difficult American officials say they have ever encountered.

To reconstruct the search for Tice, the Post spoke with more than 70 people who knew him or worked on the long effort to rescue him.

This account, which includes previously unknown details and unreported secret contacts between U.S. and Syrian officials, reveals how the authorities in Damascus blocked years of efforts to find Tice.

Efforts over the last 13 years have included meetings between CIA officers and Syrian intelligence officials in Oman and Damascus, previously unreported contacts that occurred even as the CIA was covertly training and equipping Syrian rebels.

They also involved attempts to influence former Syrian President Bashar Assad and people close to him by offering incentives such as access to advanced medical equipment affected by sanctions.

In addition, U.S. officials say they repeatedly offered the Assad regime what they believed was a face-saving off-ramp: Free Tice and no more questions would be asked.

Despite widespread efforts, agencies in the U.S. trying to find Tice could reach no definitive conclusion on his fate. Since at least 2016, the intelligence community had assessed that he was alive, although with low confidence.

But after Assad was overthrown this past December and weeks went by with no breakthroughs, despite the government offering a $10 million reward for information, the CIA changed its assessment and said Tice was probably dead, but again, with low confidence.

Officials have also stressed that none of the alleged sightings of Tice after the initial 2012 video soon after he was captured were ever verified by U.S. officials. Neither, however, were the reports of his death.

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