Files Show Austin Tice Was Held by Assad Regime

American officials have long said they believe American journalist Austin Tice was imprisoned by Bashar al-Assad's regime after he was seized in Syria in August 2012. The BBC reports that secret intelligence files have confirmed that Tice was a prisoner of the regime. The files marked "Austin Tice" include communications among different branches of Syrian intelligence, per the BBC. They show that he was held at a facility in Damascus after his capture. After the collapse of the regime last year, a former prisoner said he saw Tice as recently as 2022, but his fate is unknown.

According to the BBC, Tice was interrogated at least twice by a Syrian government intelligence officer—and once briefly escaped captivity by squeezing through a window in his cell. The BBC also spoke to Syrian intelligence sources who confirmed Tice's detention. A member of the National Defense Forces, the paramilitary group believed to have arrested Tice at a checkpoint days after his 31st birthday, said "Austin's value was understood" and the Syrian government saw him as a "card" that could be used in negotiations with the US. The Assad regime long denied that it was holding Tice. A video released seven weeks after his capture showed him surrounded by what appeared to be Islamic militants, but analysts said it was likely staged. (More Austin Tice stories.)