Sick ISIS video, ‘escape’ to Iran & eerie ‘sightings’… the 14-year mystery of US veteran Austin Tice’s kidnap in Syria

AT the height of the Syrian civil war, US Marine Corps veteran and award-winning journalist Austin Tice was abducted just miles from the safety of the Lebanese border. Austin, then a law student, had spent the summer in the war-torn nation documenting the horrors of Bashar Al-Assad’s brutal crackdown. Now, 14 years later, the fate of the longest captive American journalist in history continues to puzzle investigators. Austin Tice vanished three days after his birthday, on August 13, 2012 Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk Austin Tice’s collected photos sent in from his Mum Debra Tice. Austin is being held captive in Syria. Credit: SUPPLIED He vanished three days after his birthday, on August 13, 2012. Austin had entered Syria in May and travelled through rebel-held areas, freelancing for The Washington Post and McClatchy. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Chilling documents recovered after the fall of Assad’s regime reveal that he was being tracked all the way. By August, he was getting ready to leave the Syrian capital, Damascus, and travel to Lebanon. While passing through a checkpoint near Darayya, a southwestern suburb of the city, he vanished. Then, after around seven weeks of silence, a distressing video emerged with the title “Austin Tice is Alive”. It showed the journalist blindfolded, bound at the hands, and being led up a rocky hillside by his armed, masked captors who shout “Allahu Akbar”. A visibly distressed Austin is then forced to recite an Islamic prayer in Arabic. A video posted on YouTube on October 1, 2012 purportedly shows Austin Tice Credit: AFP Debra Tice, Austin’s mother Credit: Getty It is the last-known recording of Austin, who would have turned 44-years-old on Tuesday. A massive international effort to secure his release has followed in the years since, but has led to far more questions than answers. For years, the identities of Austin’s captors remained one of the central unanswered questions. The mysterious video released by his captors seems to suggest that they were Islamic militants, given the religious garb, mountainous geography, and repeated refrains of “Allahu Akbar”. But US intelligence came to believe that the video had been staged to throw them off the scent. Analysts noted that the captors wore clothing reminiscent of militants in Afghanistan rather than those operating in Syria at the time. Elizabeth O’Bagy, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told CBS that the prayers felt forced and appeared to mimic – “in a very poor manner” – those heard in video clips of Afghan fighters. Austin and his mother Debra Credit: SUPPLIED Surrounded by her children and their families, Debra Tice, mum of Austin Tice, a journalist who was kidnapped in Syria Credit: AP The clip also appeared on the Facebook page of Assad’s supporters, rather than being routed through the standard jihadist channels. One of the most extraordinary revelations in recent years is that the journalist may have briefly escaped. US officials claim that he managed to break out of a hellish Syrian prison shortly after his abduction, before being recaptured by Assad’s henchmen. Brave Austin reportedly ran through the streets of Damascus in torn clothing after his incredible escape. Locals in the Mezzeh area, close to where he was abducted, spotted a mysterious man wandering the streets. Syrian officials released an internal tracking bulletin with Austin’s photo saying that he was at large. However, he then sought help at the home of a regime figurehead, a senior Syrian official said. US officials claim Austin managed to break out of a Syrian prison, before being recaptured by Assad’s henchmen Credit: AP Debra Tice and her husband Marc Tice Credit: Getty In an extraordinary stroke of bad luck, Austin is said to have knocked on the door of Ali Mamlouk, Assad’s top spook. He was reportedly swiftly recaptured. After the fall of Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024, reporters from the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ) found top secret intelligence files. Bombshell documents dated March 4, 2013, reveal that Assad’s security services were meticulously tracking foreign journalists entering the country and covering the civil war. Austin Tice is named in the file, which suggests that he was still alive at the time, but there are no details of his whereabouts. His entry reportedly reads: “He entered Syria illegally at the Turkish border in mid-June and he spent several days in Khan Shaikhoun where he met individuals who call themselves the Free Army.” Reports about Austin’s condition in the years since 2012 have been scarce. One of the most recent accounts came from a former prisoner interviewed by SIRAJ. He claimed that he was detained by Syrian spooks in 2018 and held in a cell next to a man who guards would refer to as Austin. The unnamed man said that he didn’t know who the journalist was at the time. A rebel soldier puts his foot on the discarded bust of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, father of the recently toppled President Bashar al-Assad Credit: Getty Images Austin was reporting on the civil war for The Washington Post and McClatchy’s news agency Credit: AFP/Getty Images But he recalled that guards would bring an English translator to speak to the prisoner. He said: “The translator would ask him, “Austin, what do you want to eat today?’ I could hear the translator talking to Austin directly, because I was close to his cell.” The story has not been confirmed by official sources, but if true, it would mean he was alive at least six years after his capture. Last year, a high-ranking general under Assad made the bombshell claim that Austin had been killed back in 2013. Bassam al-Hassan told CNN: “Of course, Austin is dead,” and claimed that the dictator had personally ordered his execution. He continued: “I don’t want to protect Bashar al-Assad because he abandoned and left us. “I don’t want to protect Russia or Iran, because the US thinks Russia and Iran have something to do with the case. “And I can assure you that this is not the case. This relates to President Bashar only.” Hassan claimed that he personally passed on the execution order to a member of the National Defense Forces (NDF). However his claims remain unverified, and CNN reported that the former general failed an FBI-administered polygraph test, and that his account diverges from multiple others. Sara Qudah, Regional Director of The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said: “Reports that journalist Austin Tice was executed in 2013 are horrifying and demand immediate answers. “Tice’s family has endured more than a decade of unbearable grief and ambiguous loss. A mural of Assad in Damascus riddled with bullet holes Credit: Reuters Crowds celebrate as the deposed dictator is sentenced to death in absentia on August 11 Credit: Getty “CPJ urges United States and Syrian authorities to break their silence, disclose the full truth, and finally provide closure. Accountability cannot be delayed any longer.” When Assad’s regime was toppled, then-President Joe Biden said the US believed Austin Tice was still alive and would try to bring him home. He said: “We are mindful that there are Americans in Syria, including those who reside there, as well as Austin Tice, who was taken captive more than 12 years ago. “We remain committed to returning him to his family. “We believe he’s alive. We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet. We have to identify where he is.” Later that month, Biden’s top hostage official Roger Carstens travelled to Damascus to make the first face-to-face contact with the caretaker government and ask for help locating Austin. The Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs said he conducted a joint search of a facility with the rebel group that overthrew Assad “that we all thought would have some relation to Austin Tice”. Carstens told CBS: “We had a lot of information over the last 12 years that pointed to a variety of facilities. “And in [narrowing] that down over 12 years, we came up with a priority list of about six sites. “And of those six sites, we felt that this had the highest probability of having held Austin at one time.” Carstens admitted he was stunned by the sheer number of prisons that Assad had been operating. He said: “I mean, you’d almost think that if you were running a country, and you wanted to jail your enemies, you’d have one prison, and it wouldn’t be secret. Former US President Joe Biden previously he said US intelligence believed Austin was alive Credit: EPA Assad fled to Moscow, where he is currently living in exile Credit: Corbis “But to have like 35 or 40 secret prisons, I find that just horrifying, disturbing, and yet in a way fascinating.” The diplomatic mission would ultimately return without definitive proof that Austin is still alive. Despite the so-far unsuccessful attempts to track him down, Austin’s family believe that he may be in the hands of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Throughout the civil war, Tehran provided billions of dollars and proxy militias to help prop up the Assad regime. The IRGC also set up, supervised and controlled secret prisons across Syria during the civil war. Naomi Tice, one of Austin’s sisters, said that the family has information that he might have been held in one of the facilities and transferred to Iran when Assad was toppled. She said: “Assad consistently said that he did not have Austin, and he has really held strong on that message. “We also know that Iran manages some of the detention facilities in Syria. “And so, that technicality could be one of the reasons why Assad said that he didn’t have them because Iran was technically in control of them at the time.” “With the regime change, we do think, at that point, Austin might have been brought over to Iran during that time. “Once again, this isn’t confirmed, but we have strong reason to believe that might be the case.” The family has urged Donald Trump‘s administration to ask for information about Austin’s whereabouts as part of negotiations to bring an end to the war. Assad, who was recently sentenced to death in absentia, is currently exiled in Moscow. The Tice family has urged Washington to put pressure on Vladimir Putin so that the deposed dictator can be questioned by US investigators. But 14 years on, there remains limited information about the missing journalist.