Washington D.C. – The Washington Post, December 09, 2024
Senior administration officials have no confirmed evidence that the imprisoned journalist is still alive, but State Department spokesperson says they “will leave no stone unturned.”
With Syria in the throes of the Assad regime collapse, the Biden administration is working to locate Austin Tice, an American freelance journalist abducted in Syria a dozen years ago.
Though they have no concrete evidence that Tice is still alive, special envoy for hostages Roger Carstens has traveled to Beirut to coordinate efforts to find Tice, senior U.S. officials said.
“Roger’s approach … [is] to leave no stone unturned, to gather information from wherever he can and press anyone who is willing to take action to get American citizens home,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday. “He is in Beirut to talk with people in the region, to talk with parties in the region, to collect information and to try to find out where Austin Tice is and get him home as soon as possible.”
“We are all in,” said one senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. “There’s a hope that this will be one shining thing in the heart of so much disaster.”
