He was 31 and had just celebrated his birthday a few days ago while listening to Taylor Swift songs, before heading to Lebanon as an independent freelance journalist and photographer covering the ongoing Syrian civil war. That was the last time the former US Marine and Georgetown University law student was seen out and about. About 14 years later, his disappearance still remains a mystery.A new BBC investigation published on September 17 has revealed yet another update in the case. According to the report, Tice was betrayed by his driver, an alleged informant for the Assad regime and kidnapped.
Who was Austin Tice ?
Tice, a Houston native, served in the Marine from 2005 to 2011 and returned to the Middle East as a journalist. At the time, he was covering the Syrian civil war. During his time there, he filed reports for major news organisations including The Washington Post, CBS News and McClatchy. He aimed to document the conflict firsthand and was attempting to travel to Beirut, Lebanon, when he disappeared near a checkpoint in Daraya, Syria, on August 13, 2012.Following his kidnapping, a video surfaced a month later of a blindfolded Tice being held by armed men saying, “Oh Jesus.” That was the last time anyone heard from him, according to The Guardian. In 2022, then-President Joe Biden said “with certainty” that the U.S. knew that Syrian authorities had Tice in their possession.The Assad regime previously denied all allegations of kidnapping the American journalist. As the regime fell 12 years later, tens of thousands of people emerged from the administration’s prisons, yet Tice was not one of them. Following the regime’s collapse in 2024, the BBC uncovered confidential Syrian intelligence files on Tice, which indicated he was detained by now-former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
What happened to Austin Tice?
In December 2024, Debra Tice, Austin’s mother, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and claimed her son is alive based on a then-new report.
The British outlet added that it spoke with Abu Ali, a former member of the National Defence Forces (NDF), a militia loyal to Assad. Abu Ali said that Tice’s driver, whom sources allege passed information to the regime, told an NDF official that Tice had been going through rebel areas and reporting on the opposition.At the time, the Assad government was cracking down on journalists reporting on its human rights abuses. The intelligence about Tice went all the way up to Assad himself, whom Ali says told the group to abduct the journalist. NDF surveillance on Tice continued after Assad’s alleged request, the BBC reported, until the driver reported to the militia that Tice’s actions appeared suspicious, said Abu Ali.When it was time for Tice to leave Syria after he celebrated his 31st birthday on August 11, 2012, he was planning to take a break in Lebanon. However, he was driven to a state facility where an NDF official had an office on the outskirts of Damascus, according to sources.Abu Ali later said the driver told him that he pulled out a gun as the car approached the gates, the BBC reported. At first, Tice thought his driver was joking until he realised what was happening. Abu Ali also recounted that Tice pulled out his chequebook and offered the driver any amount of money instead of going ahead with the abduction. Instead, NDF officials took Tice and covered his eyes, according to Abu Ali.BBC also reported that the driver’s name was Hamid Abu Obeid and his family did not know his current whereabouts and said they were unaware of his alleged involvement in Tice’s disappearance. The family, who live in poverty as Palestinian refugees, said Abu Obeid was offered a passport, Syrian citizenship and a weapon if he turned in Tice. They claimed that Abu Obeid only got a pistol after the kidnapping, the BBC reported.Abu Obeid’s wife told the outlet that her husband disappeared after a man who knew about his role in Tice’s case threatened to inform the US embassy in return for a promise of asylum. He took some money, told his wife he was going shopping, and she said she has not seen him since. She does not know if he is in hiding, or if he has been detained or killed. The wife said that after Abu Obeid vanished, masked men came by their house and took away his laptop and other belongings.
Still looking for Austin Tice
In December 2024, Debra Tice, Austin’s mother, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and claimed her son is alive based on a then-new report. “We have a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government; Austin Tice is alive, Austin Tice is treated well,” Debra said at the press conference. “And there is no doubt about that.”Debra previously expressed optimism that President Donald Trump would bring her son home after she said Trump previously “had an obsession” with helping Austin during his first term. As of now, the US government maintains an active investigation into Tice and offers a multi-million-dollar reward for information that leads to his safe return.