After fall of Assad, mother of Austin Tice has renewed hope son will be found in Syria

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• Amna Nawaz:

  Austin Tice, a former U.S. Marine and freelance journalist, is one of the longest-held American hostages abroad. But the recent fall of Bashar al-Assad and his brutal regime in Syria has renewed hope that Tice will be found some 12 years after he was abducted during a reporting trip outside of Damascus.

  Details about Tice's imprisonment are limited, but here is what we do know. Tice traveled to Syria in May of 2012 to cover the war. On his way to Lebanon on August 14, he was detained at a checkpoint in Damascus. Five weeks later, a 43-second video surfaced showing Tice being held by armed captors. Reports emerged that Tice had escaped imprisonment in early 2013, but his freedom was short-lived and he was recaptured in Damascus soon thereafter.

  Still, the Biden administration declared in 2021 its sincere belief that Tice was alive. And, more recently, a Syrian former prisoner has come forward telling NBC that he saw Tice twice in prison in 2022.

  Tice's family has long advocated for his release, pushing American officials over three administrations to do more to find him. And now that prisoners held by Assad's regime are being released all across Syria, Tice's family is stepping up their campaign to find him.

  Austin Tice's mother, Debora, joins us now.

  Debora, welcome. Thanks for being here.

  Debra Tice, Mother of Austin Tice: Thank you so much for having me here.

• Amna Nawaz:

  So, 12 years, you have been fighting, more than 12 years, to bring your son home. What was it like for you to see the Assad regime fall, to see a new Syria emerging, and to see a new opportunity to potentially find Austin and bring him home?

• Debra Tice:

  Well, there were two feelings.

  I don't think that the way that it — the changes coming on might be more difficult than we're thinking, right? But those first days, of course, when people were able to go into the prison and find their loved ones and families could be reunited, there was just a jubilee with that. And that is the kind of thing that just has to be contagious, right, just see these families that are — have been wondering and waiting for so long.

• Amna Nawaz:

  You know what that's like to be one of those families.

• Debra Tice:

  Yes. I can hardly wait.

• Amna Nawaz:

  You sound as if that has been tempered over time, though. Do you not hold that still — still hold that same hope right now?

• Debra Tice:

  Well, no, it's still the same, because there are a lot of prisons in Damascus. And the ones that they were going to first were the ones that were most dangerous to their inmates because of lack of air.

  So they really had to get after it. We believe that where Austin was kept was — they kept him more carefully. And so it would make sense that he would come later.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Well, President Biden was asked about your son on December 8. He said that the U.S. remains committed to bringing him home. Secretary Blinken said just a few days ago that the U.S. continues its dogged, determined efforts.

  And we know they have been in direct contact with HTS, the rebel group now running the country, as well. I mean, the FBI's offered up a million dollars. The State Department's offered up to $10 million. Do you believe that the U.S. government is doing everything they can to find Austin and bring him back?

• Debra Tice:

  They're doing everything that they want to do. For me, there could be more.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Tell me more about that. What are they not doing right now that you would like to see them doing?

• Debra Tice:

  Well, I mean, one of the things that seems so odd to me is that they're not going into Damascus.

• Amna Nawaz:

  That there's no U.S. officials there yet.

• Debra Tice:

  Right.

• Amna Nawaz:

  These are civil society groups, right, other journalists on the ground you have been in touch with as well.

• Debra Tice:

  Yes. And Hostage Aid Worldwide is the NGO that we have been working with. And they are on the ground there looking for Austin. So we do have that kind of support.

• Amna Nawaz:

  President Biden has also said that the U.S. does believe Austin is alive, but that they have to first identify where he is. And you just recently sent a letter to the Israeli prime minister, to Benjamin Netanyahu, asking him to pause Israeli airstrikes in one particular area, around Mount Qasioun, because you said you had credible information that Austin was held in a prison there.

  Tell me more about that. Is that information that the U.S. government says is credible and have they acted on it in any way?

• Debra Tice:

  Well, I do have affirmation from the government that it is credible.

  For me, reaching out to Netanyahu, he's the boss of all the bombing people, right, so just to take a pause with that and give us the opportunity to check those prisons that are in the mountain.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And have you gotten any response from the Israeli government on that?

• Debra Tice:

  No, I did not get a response from them. They did say that the letter was delivered. And so we did see HTS said that they had worked with the Israel government and they did have a pause.

  I don't know if that had anything to do with my letter, but it did happen.

• Amna Nawaz:

  You know, Austin went into Syria for the first time around the same time that actually I first went to cover the war as well. And I wonder if you could just tell us a little bit more about your son.

  I mean, what drew him to want to go into the chaos and uncertainty at a time when a lot of other people would run away?

• Debra Tice:

  Well, I mean, keep in mind it was 2012. So it wasn't at all like what it became. So it was still a civil uprising. He had served in Iraq. He had served in Afghanistan.

  And so when this was starting to bubble into what would look like it was going to be another urban war, that was what compelled him to go only with a camera. He was just hoping that he could take such beautiful pictures of Syria itself, the Syrian people, the amazingly cute and beautiful Syrian children.

  And he was just hoping that these photos could be compelling enough to prevent another — another urban war.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Knowing your son as you do, does any of that surprise you, that he would want to go there and do that?

• Debra Tice:

  No, it wasn't surprising. And the other thing is, by the time he's announcing that he's going to do something, he's thought it through, you're not going to talk him out of it.

  So the best response is to say, have you thought about your safety? How are we going to stay in contact, and those — just to be practical, because he's made his decision, and he's going to do the thing, you know? So that's the only appropriate way to respond to him when he makes a — just like an announcement like that: "Mom, I'm going to join the military."

  Well that's something I never heard before.

  (Laughter)

• Debra Tice:

  And he did. So, yes, that's Austin.

• Amna Nawaz:

  After 12 years of fighting to bring him home, have you thought about what it will be like to watch him walk free, to be able to hug him again for the first time?

• Debra Tice:

  It's so hard to imagine because he was 30 the last time that I hugged him. And he's 43 now.

  One thing that Austin thought was just really funny would be, he would give me this big hug and twirl me around, because isn't that a blast?

  (Laughter)

• Debra Tice:

  So, I'm just wondering if he's still going to be thinking about wanting to do that, you know?

• Amna Nawaz:

  Debra, what keeps you going every day?

• Debra Tice:

  My faith. My faith is what keeps me going, 100 percent, yes, because I tell people, me, myself, I am at home right now in the dark in my bed in the fetal position sucking my thumb.

  So what you're seeing right here is really my faith, and that's what and keeps me going, yes.

• Amna Nawaz:

  There's a lot more information coming out and going into Syria post-Assad. If you could speak directly to Austin, if you can get a message to him today, what would you say?

• Debra Tice:

  We are waiting for you. We have not given up. You're coming home. You're going to go on with your life.

  And I just want you to know, Austin, that I am praying that you are already working on forgiveness, because, when you walk free, you're going to need to walk free of any rancor or any kind of wanting any kind of revenge. Please walk free. Walk really free.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Debra Tice, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for spending time with us, telling us about your son.

  We hope to see you here with him soon.

• Debra Tice:

  Oh, yes. I will do it remote.

  (Laughter)

• Debra Tice:

  Yes. Thank you so much for having me.