The Biden government has assigned a team of officials to reestablish a network of backchannels with the Syrian government in a renewed attempt to uncover the fate of kidnapped US journalist Austin Tice.
On 11 August, Michael Wilner reported in McClatchyDC that US President Joe Biden’s team has met with Syrian officials and has delegated James Baker, from Tice’s home state of Texas, to help free him from imprisonment.
Tice, 41, is a US journalist who crossed into Syria illegally through the Turkish border in May 2012. He was working as a freelance journalist for several US publications.
After 83 days in Syria, Tice was detained in Darayya, a suburb of Damascus, en route to the Lebanese border.
“We know with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime,” Biden said in a statement on 10 August. “We have repeatedly asked the government of Syria to work with us so that we can bring Austin home.”
However, neither the Syrian government nor any militant group has taken credit for kidnapping him, or demanded to exchange him for money or prisoners.
Earlier in May, Biden met with Tice’s parents and pledged to bring him home along with all “wrongly detained US citizens abroad.”
For their part, Tice’s parents demanded answers regarding the lack of progress in their son’s case, demanding the US engage directly with President Bashar al-Assad.
“This is what needs to be done: direct engagement with the Syrian government. There is no other channel for Austin,” said Debra Tice.
In light of this progress, Roger Carstens, Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, announced that the US is looking for ways to engage with Syria.
The US requested the assistance of an unnamed Lebanese general to deliver messages between Syria and the US, according McClatchyDC.
Local reports in Lebanon indicated that Major General Abbas Ibrahim, General Directorate of General Security, is the current mediator in the Tice case and has been following up on it for the past few years.
In March 2020, former US president Donald Trump wrote a letter to Al-Assad asking Syria “to work with us to find and return Austin.”
However, Syria refused to cooperate with the US as long as it occupies vast lands and steals its oil.