Secret files reveal Assad ordered US journalist Austin Tice’s kidnapping as insiders describe final moments of freedom

SECRET files have revealed that evil dictator Bashar al-Assad directly ordered the kidnapping of US journalist Austin Tice, a new podcast claims. The reporter’s disappearance 14 years ago in Syria still remains a mystery and his mum told The Sun just last month that she has still not given up hope of his safe return. Austin Tice vanished on August 13, 2012 Harrowing video footage showed the journalist bound and blindfolded Credit: AFP Now a new podcast series has revealed the terrifying events leading up to his capture – and the chilling betrayal that saw him seized. One insider told BBC reporters that it was someone very close to Austin who sold him out to Assad’s twisted regime. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The Washington Post freelancer vanished three days after his birthday, on August 13, 2012. After seven weeks of silence, a sickening video emerged showing Austin blindfolded and bound at the hands while being led by his armed captors. It was the last time Austin was seen. Conflicting accounts have claimed that the longest captive American journalist in history is alive in a jail cell – while others say he was executed many years ago. Now the BBC has uncovered evidence that he was kidnapped in a calculated operation that was weeks in the planning – and under the direct orders of bloodthirsty ruler Assad. A year-long investigation has revealed that Austin’s trusted driver had links to the very top of the Syrian regime – and had been feeding them intel on the journalist for weeks. Most read in The Sun Bashar al-Assad personally approved the plan for Austin’s abduction Credit: AFP Austin’s mum Debra has never given up hope that she might see her son again Credit: SUPPLIED Hundreds of secret files and insider accounts from a man who helped abduct the American have delivered the “first definitive proof” that the reporter was captured by the Syrian regime. The revelations come in a new BBC podcast entitled: Where is Austin Tice? Series 3 of I’m Not A Monster Presents. An intelligence source gave reporters co-ordinates leading to several locations where US authorities thought Austin could have been held. But no trace of the American was found. He had been just days away from leaving Syria when he vanished while passing through a checkpoint near Darayya. The BBC spoke to a former member of Assad’s National Defence Forces (NDF), Abu Ali, who said Austin’s driver told the regime he would be passing through rebel-held areas. His driver reportedly passed information about the journalist’s movements to a nephew of Bassam al-Hassan, head of the NDF and one of Assad’s most trusted security figures. Ali said Assad then gave the chilling order: “Bring him to us.” The driver continued to report the American’s movements. He even went through Austin’s bag at one point, Ali told the BBC. Ali claimed when the driver pulled a gun on the American, Austin laughed. He trusted the man so much he thought he was joking. When he realised the driver was serious, Austin apparently pulled out his chequebook and pleaded with the driver to name his price. But he was grabbed by NDF forces and kidnapped – one militia member told the BBC he would never forget the look on Austin’s face as he realised his trusted driver had betrayed him. The investigation revealed that Hamid Abu Obeid had been the man who drove Austin into the hands of his abductors. He himself has since vanished. In his final moments of freedom, Austin apparently laughed – he trusted his driver so much he thought him pulling a gun was a joke Credit: AFP Debra has fought tirelessly to bring her son home Credit: SUPPLIED His family said he had been promised life-changing rewards to inform on Austin – a passport, Syrian citizenship, a house and a weapon. But all he was given was a pistol and he disappeared after Assad’s regime fell. More than a decade later, devastated loved ones hope for the return of the driver – and his alleged victim, Austin. Austin’s mum Debra has campaigned tirelessly to bring her son home, telling The Sun: “We have no reason to believe that he’s not alive now. “I’m very close with God, and I know other mothers whose loved ones have not come home, and they knew almost immediately. I have never, ever had that moment. “I have always believed that we will see him.” Debra believes the best chance the US government had at bringing her beloved son home was in the initial months after he was abducted. She said: “The thing that has made it more difficult is learning so much more about [how] bringing Austin home was easier earlier – and it was just ignored. “And to absolutely know that as the truth, that does make it worse. “He could have been home before Christmas in 2012.” Successive administrations in America have not been able to negotiate Austin’s release – but Debra stands firm in saying the government knew his whereabouts, up until Assad’s fall from power. She said: “The US government has known where Austin was every single day and the entire time of his detention. “But then, as of December 2024, we have no idea. “We have no idea where he is. Is he in Iran? Is he in Lebanon? Is he in Syria? Where is he in Syria? “It’s another pain to our family, another hit to us. “He put his life on the line for our country. That should mean something.” Comment now