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Accessibility statementSkip to main content Democracy Dies in Darkness SubscribeSign in Advertisement Democracy Dies in Darkness National SecurityForeign PolicyIntelligenceJusticeMilitary National SecurityForeign PolicyIntelligenceJusticeMilitary U.S. GROUP TRAVELS TO SYRIA IN SEARCH OF MISSING REPORTER AUSTIN TICE The ouster of President Bashar al-Assad has revived hopes that Tice, who was 31 when he was abducted in 2012, will be found alive. December 10, 2024 at 7:32 p.m. ESTToday at 7:32 p.m. EST 3 min 18 Marc and Debra Tice, the parents of American journalist Austin Tice, display photos of their son during a news conference in Beirut in 2017. (Bilal Hussein/AP) By John Hudson , Ellen Nakashima and Dan Lamothe A U.S. group is traveling to Syria this week in search of long-missing journalist Austin Tice, after the surprise ouster of President Bashar al-Assad revived hopes that he will be found alive 12 years after his abduction while documenting the country’s brutal civil war. Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics. The head of the Washington-based nonprofit Syrian Emergency Task Force, Mouaz Moustafa, reached the Syria-Turkey border Tuesday and is scheduled to arrive in Damascus, the capital, on Wednesday, he told The Washington Post in a phone interview. Moustafa said he has “multiple geolocations,” gleaned from contacts within the U.S. government and Syrian rebel groups, of places Tice could be if he is alive. No U.S. government personnel are believed to be in Syria actively searching for Tice. Story continues below advertisement “There are a few locations that our government thinks he might be. I know these geolocations, and I plan to go to each one of them,” he said. Advertisement Tice is a Marine Corps veteran and freelance journalist who worked on stories for The Post and other U.S.-based media outlets. He was 31 when he was abducted Aug. 14, 2012, while reporting on the civil war in Syria. Video footage surfaced months later showing him blindfolded and held up by men with assault rifles. 🌎 Follow World news Follow The U.S. government has long maintained that the Syrian government was holding Tice, but Assad’s regime denied the claims. U.S. officials said in recent days that they have no confirmed intelligence that Tice is alive, but President Joe Biden said that he believes Tice is living and that Washington is committed to bringing him home. Story continues below advertisement “We think we can get him back,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Sunday, while acknowledging that “we have no direct evidence” of his status. Moustafa, whose nonprofit boasts a broad array of contacts in Washington and Syria but operates on a limited budget, said the people of Syria “owe a debt” to Tice for his reporting on the civil war. Advertisement “He’s someone who left the safety of his home and went to a dangerous place in order to cover the plight of the Syrian people against their tyrant,” he said. Moustafa said that in 2012, his group initially helped Tice enter northwestern Syria to assist his reporting, and that it was “devastating to everyone” when he was taken. Story continues below advertisement “My priority is to get him home,” he said, noting that he had made the FBI and the U.S. military aware of his efforts. Moustafa is traveling with five other people in search of Tice and is also assisting other media outlets traveling to Damascus. The FBI declined to comment. A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, said the U.S. military is not involved in any search. On Friday, Tice’s family held a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, where his mother, Debra, said a “significant source” had said her son is alive. The family declined to comment for this article. Advertisement Story continues below advertisement National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that he would not “get into intelligence information” that leads the Biden administration to believe Tice is alive. “We have no information to the contrary,” he added. “But we also don’t have complete information about where he is, what his condition is.” Developments in Syria “could present an opportunity to gain more context, more information, which could then potentially give us options for how to move forward,” Kirby added, “but the goal remains the same: We want to get him back to his family, where he belongs.” Michael Birnbaum, Joby Warrick and Karen DeYoung contributed to this report. MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT The Israel-Gaza war has gone on for over a year, and tensions have spilled into the surrounding Middle East region. The war: On Oct. 7, Hamas militants launched an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking civilian hostages. We’re tracking how many hostages remain in Gaza. Israel declared war on Hamas in response, launching a ground invasion that fueled the biggest displacement in the region since Israel’s creation in 1948. In July 2024, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an attack Hamas has blamed on Israel. Cease-fire: Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire deal in November 2024, bringing a tenuous halt to more than a year of hostilities. Here’s what to know about the deal’s terms and how it will be enforced. Hezbollah: Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, a militant organization backed by Iran, have escalated over the past year, leading to an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon. Israel’s airstrikes into Lebanon have grown more intense and deadly, killing over 1,400 people including Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s longtime leader. The Israel-Lebanon border has a history of violence that dates back to Israel’s founding. Gaza crisis: In the Gaza Strip, Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars, killing tens of thousands and plunging at least half of the population into “famine-like conditions.” For months, Israel has resisted pressure from Western allies to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave. U.S. involvement: Despite tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some U.S. politicians, including President Biden, the United States supports Israel with weapons, funds aid packages, and has vetoed or abstained from the United Nations’ cease-fire resolutions. Show more Share 18 Comments Sign up Subscribe to comment and get the full experience. 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