Intelligence Reveals Journalist Detained by Assad Regime

(MENAFN) Highly confidential intelligence documents uncovered by a news agency provide the first concrete evidence that the missing American reporter Austin Tice was held captive by the administration of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Additionally, ex-Syrian officials have corroborated Mr. Tice’s imprisonment in interviews with the news agency.

While the US government had long suspected that the Syrian authorities were responsible for his captivity, the Assad regime consistently denied these claims, and no specific information regarding the circumstances of his detention had emerged until now.

The newly obtained intelligence, combined with accounts from several former regime insiders, now sheds light on what transpired after the journalist’s capture.

Austin Tice disappeared near Damascus, Syria’s capital, in August 2012, just days following his 31st birthday.

At the time, he was engaged in work as an independent journalist.

Approximately seven weeks later, a video surfaced online depicting him blindfolded and bound, coerced by armed men into reciting an Islamic creed.

Nevertheless, the initial suggestion that Mr. Tice had been taken by a jihadist faction was soon met with skepticism by analysts and US officials, who argued that the footage "may have been staged."

To date, neither any group nor any government has claimed responsibility for his disappearance, and no further communication from him has been received, fueling persistent uncertainty about his fate and location.

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