The family of journalist Austin Tice, who was arrested by the Bashar al-Assad regime 12 years ago, claims that he is alive in Syria and wants to be reunited with him after the fall of the Assad government on Sunday (8).
“We know Austin is alive and we know he is in Syria,” said Simon Robert Tice, Austin’s brother.
Asked how they knew, Robert Tice said he could not share those details.
The journalist’s sister, Meagan Tice Malone, expressed that the family is hopeful about news in the coming hours and days.
“We are seeing prisoners being released and we are watching them reunite with their families, people who have been detained for years. These encounters are joyful. Therefore, we are extremely hopeful that this will also happen to our family in the coming days”, said Meagan Tice.
The two added that the message for the current American administration and the next has not changed, as they call on current President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump to do everything they can to secure Tice’s release.
Understand the conflict in Syria
Syria’s civil war began during the Arab Spring in 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.
The country was plunged into full-scale conflict when a rebel force was formed, known as the Free Syrian Army, to fight government troops.
Furthermore, the Islamic State, a terrorist group, also managed to gain a foothold in the country and came to control 70% of Syrian territory.
Fighting escalated as other regional actors and world powers — from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States to Russia — joined in, escalating the country’s war into what some observers described as a “proxy war.”
Russia has allied with Bashar al-Assad’s government to combat the Islamic State and rebels, while the United States has led an international coalition to repel the terrorist group.
After a ceasefire agreement in 2020, the conflict remained largely “dormant”, with minor clashes between the rebels and the Assad regime.
More than 300,000 civilians have been killed in more than a decade of war, according to the UN, and millions of people have been displaced across the region.
Who is the family of Bashar al-Assad, who ruled Syria for more than half a century
This content was originally published in Family of American journalist imprisoned in Syria asks for help finding him on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil

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