Mystery Surrounding Abducted Marine Veteran Austin Tice Enters New Chapter with Syrian Manhunt
Merced Sun-Star | By Michael Wilner
Published December 20, 2024 at 9:20 am
The search for Austin Tice that stumped the U.S. government for 12 years has entered a new, hopeful stage -- but 12 days on since Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled the country, U.S. officials remain without answers on America's longest-held hostage.
It is the latest, perhaps most torturous chapter in the quest for Tice, a former U.S. Marine and freelance journalist for McClatchy and other publications who went missing in 2012 while covering the outbreak of war.
Images that flooded out from Syria of Assad's prisoners being freed and reunited with their families -- some after decades in captivity -- filled U.S. officials and the Tice family with optimism in the immediate aftermath of his departure.
For all those years, Assad and his innermost circle had been Tice's gatekeepers, refusing to discuss his case or even mention his name despite U.S. knowledge that the Syrian government had held him in its custody.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/12/20/mystery-surrounding-abducted-marine-veteran-austin-tice-enters-new-chapter-syrian-manhunt.html
