Hello, happy Thursday. American journalist Austin Tice has been held in Syria for 4,504 days, but for the first time in many years, his family feels optimistic that he may be released soon.

you may I read about Austin Tice. recent successive reports Since then Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship collapsed After a rebel attack that shocked the world.

Tice is a former Marine captain from Houston who was in his final year of law school and was working as a freelance journalist covering the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. He was detained at a checkpoint while leaving Syria. Weeks later, a video clip was released showing him blindfolded and disheveled, held at gunpoint by unknown men.

Nothing since then.

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to speak with the Tice family gathered at an Airbnb in Arlington, Virginia. It’s the first time the entire Tice family has been together since the coronavirus pandemic, and the first time the entire Tice family has spoken to family members. Journalist now. For them, one word defined this moment: overwhelming.

As war correspondents flocked to Syria to catch this startling report, Tice’s family launched an attack of their own. This is to ensure that Tais’ plight does not go unnoticed amidst the chaos as many Syrian families search for their loved ones. The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimates that 157,000 people have been caught up in Assad’s crackdown.

At this time, access, information and, hopefully, the opportunity for Tice’s return is limited. No one knows who will ultimately be in charge of Syria or what the relationship with the United States will be. But as the future begins to take shape, the Tice believe they have a unique opportunity. After years of nothing happening, it’s the moment when something happens.

“We know he’s alive,” his mother, Debra Tice, told me. “You can bring Austin Tice home. Go get him. Get it done.”

Since her eldest son went missing, she has visited the Capitol numerous times to beg, plead, and demand that the U.S. government do more — sometimes with her husband, Mark, but usually alone. . It was a time-consuming and often discouraging campaign.

Four years after Tice was captured, then-President Obama finally met with them. Four years later, then-President Trump issued a statement saying, “America will not rest until we bring Austin home.”

But Taïs remained in Syria. In 2022, President Biden met with his family. And although there were reports of secret meetings, there was still nothing.

This summer, long before there were any signs of a Syrian uprising, Debra Theis said her entire family (Austin has six siblings and six nieces and nephews, many of whom she has never met) I began making arrangements to go to Washington.

Surely, she thought, this child would cause more of a stir among State Department bureaucrats and elected officials than a mother on a never-ending, lonely quest. At least Simon, who is 31 years old (Austin’s age when he was abducted) and the youngest of the siblings, said he doesn’t have to go through the “setbacks alone.”

She had made a dark green T-shirt for this difficult reunion. In the center was a photo of Tice, with the words “Release my son,” “Release my brother,” and “Release my uncle” written above it. would be wearing it. She wanted everyone she met to see him as family.

“I need to know that he’s my son, my brother, my uncle, my brother-in-law. I need to know that in meetings,” she said. “You can’t avoid it.”

But like many times when she was alone, the visit didn’t give her family the answers they were hoping for. At first, there were whispers inside Syria that something was happening in the northern city of Aleppo, but that it was moving south toward the capital Damascus.

Naomi Theis, the second-youngest sibling, said it appeared that State Department and White House officials were using the information to make her family fearful.

“I feel like it gave them an opportunity to really avoid a lot of those questions,” she says. “They almost used that to excuse the fact that they haven’t been able to do this for the last 12 years. I think that was really frustrating, because it just felt like it was being avoided, right?

She told me that she always respected and relied on her brother.

“I always relied on him to make every decision in my life, so to not be able to do that, not have his advice, not know what direction he was going to take me in was really tough. ” she said.

In fact, each of the brothers had to find a way to get on with their day without even knowing what their older brother was going through. One part of your life is on hold while everything else moves forward.

Megan Tice, the second oldest after Austin, is a hairstylist in Houston. Although he has never met her seven-year-old daughter, the girl knows everything about her absentee uncle.

“She talks about him a lot, she asks a lot of questions, she brings him up often,” she said. “We can’t stop time, and Austin doesn’t want us to either, but he’s still a part of our lives and conversations.”

They each remember him in their own way.

Debra: “She’s strong-willed, in a good way.”
Marc: “It’s passionate.”
Megan: Stubborn and strong.
Naomi: “Pioneer.”
John: “It’s a force that can’t be ignored.”
Jacob: “It’s magnetic.”
Simon: “Protect me.”
Abby: “As the shortest sibling, my words matter.”

The family returned to their hotel Saturday night, a day after an official meeting with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and a news conference at the National Press Club. News began to trickle in that rebels had entered Damascus.

Megan Tice remembers thinking this was “wild” because her sister had asked authorities earlier in the day whether Damascus might be in danger.

Naomi Theis said she asked, “Do I need to constantly check my phone?” “Or do you think nothing will happen overnight?”

Megan Theis said officials seemed confident there was no chance of a coup and told her family that “nothing will probably happen for the rest of the weekend.” You can sleep. Really don’t worry. ”

“Three hours later, Damascus was taken, so it was just insane,” she said.

The family gathered in Jacob Tice’s room. The room was the neatest and quietest and didn’t disturb the sleeping children. Megan Tice said they have set up “their own little command center” to monitor the news and call the contacts they have made over the years, desperate for news and ways to help. .

Biden said at a press conference on Sunday.“We think we can get him back, but we don’t have direct evidence of that yet.”

The State Department said it had contacted Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, the rebel group responsible for overthrowing Assad.

“In all our conversations with organizations on the ground in Syria, or with organizations that may be in contact with organizations on the ground in Syria, we place no priority over the safe return of Austin Tice. “We continue to make it clear that there is no kimono for his family,” said department spokesman Matthew Miller. said at a press conference Tuesday.

Roger Carstens, the presidential envoy for hostage affairs, traveled to the Middle East to work on the release. Members of the civilian organization the Tice and his wife have been working with are on the ground in Syria identifying possible locations where he might be found.

“There’s a great sense of hope, joy and anticipation,” said Mark Tice, Austin’s father. But at the same time, there is also a sense of urgency.

And the pain of waiting.

The family was scheduled to leave Washington this weekend, but most are staying, “moving from place to place, building to building, camera to camera, spreading our message as loud and as widely as possible.” That’s what I’m trying to convey,” Jacob said. .

On Sunday morning, they gathered at the historic St. John’s Church near the White House. This church has been visited by every president since James Madison. The family said it was great to be together after such a long time, but it also made Tyce’s absence felt even more deeply.

“Austin is going to be free,” his mother said. “We are ready to hold him until he has the strength to live the rest of his life.”

What else to read:

Must read: Biden says the US believes Austin Theis, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, is alive.
Next up: University warns foreign students to come to campus before Trump inauguration
LA Times Feature: Luigi Mangione went “radio silent” and was reported missing in San Francisco. Then the president was killed

Stay golden,
Anita Chhabria

PS: This is a great article about Tice written a while ago by the folks at McClatchy DC bureau. Tice freelanced for McClatchy and the Washington Post.

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