Syrian intelligence files confirm US journalist captured by Assad

Top secret intelligence files discovered by UK broadcaster BBC have affirmed on June 2^nd for the first time that Austin Tice, the missing American journalist, was captured by the overthrown Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The US government have been known to raise suspicions on Tice’s whereabouts, believing him to be held by the Syrian government under Assad, who’s regime consistently denied these claims and portrayed innocence to the details of his arrest.

The files and testimonies from former Syrian officials reveal what actually occurred after Tice was taken hostage.

Working as a freelance journalist, Tice went missing near Damascus, the Syrian capital, in August 2012 when he was 31 years old.

Just under two months later, an online video was posted showing the journalist blindfolded with his hands tied, forced by a group of men to recite an Islamic declaration of faith.

US officials questioned the video, suggesting the circumstances “may have been staged” to create the impression Tice was taken by a terrorist group.

The intelligence files are the first piece of evidence that uncover any information of the Syrian government’s arrest of Tice, with search efforts commencing after the fall of Assad’s regime in December 2024.

The BBC found the files amongst an ongoing investigation into Tice’s case for a Radio 4 podcast, joining forces with a Syrian investigator to an intelligence centre. Nothing had been heard from Tice since his disappearance.

The files are made up of communication trails between Syrian intelligence groups, which have been authenticated by the BBC and law enforcement. One of the materials showed Tice to be held in a detention building in Damascus in 2012. It has been claimed that Tice was arrested near the suburb of Darayya and kept by a Syrian paramilitary force called the National Defence Forces (NDF) who had strong ties to Assad.

A Syrian official confirmed that Tice was detained there until February 2013.

Assad’s regime continued to deny any knowledge of the journalist’s whereabouts, which the BBC later proved was misleading information.

A man who visited the facility who had seen Tice, spoke to the BBC and said Tice was treated better than the Syrian individuals detained there, but “he looked sad, and the joy had gone from his face”.

A former member of the NDF with insider knowledge of Tice’s capture said “Austin’s value was understood” as a “card” that could be played as a diplomatic agreement with the US.

It was reported that between 2012 and 2013, Tice escaped from imprisonment by fitting himself through a tight gap in his cell window, but was soon recaptured.

In December 2024 after the fall of the Assad regime, ex-President of the US Joe Biden stated that he believed Tice was still alive. His mother, Debra Tice, had a “significant source” that alluded to her son’s survival two days before Biden’s statement.

Tice’s family have been made aware of the intelligence files discovered by the BBC, and are in correspondence with US and Syrian authorities that are investigating the criminal acts committed by the Assad regime. Tice’s father Marc and his mother Debra have held a longstanding campaign to retrieve their son, as he is considered an American hostage with one of the longest detentions.

Tice was a former US marine captain who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He studied law at Georgetown University and travelled to Syria in 2012.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights, a UK-based group, have suggested that 100,000 individuals disappeared under Assad’s regime.

BBC