ALBAWABA - A US official revealed to AFP that Syria expressed its willingness to help the American government in locating missing American citizens in Damascus.
"The new Syrian government has agreed to assist the USA in locating and returning USA citizens or their remains. The families of Austin Tice, Majd Kamalmaz, and Kayla Mueller must have closure," US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack wrote on X.
For instance, US journalist Austin Tice was abducted in Syria while on a reporting trip in 2012. He is one of the longest-held American hostages in the country, BBC reported.
Following the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024, the journalist's mother, Debra Tice, travelled to Syria in January 2025 for the first time in over 10 years to search for her missing son.
According to the latest US media reports, investigators believe that Austin Tice, who was a former US Marine, briefly escaped weeks after being seized, however, he was likely recaptured by Bashar Assad's forces.
Despite some reports claiming that the remains of journalist Austin Tice were found in Syria after over 12 years of searching, his family denied the allegations, stressing that the body remains don't belong to Tice.
"We appreciate whatever mission is ongoing to help families of ISIS victims find closure," said a spokesperson for the American journalist's family. "However, an initial and erroneous report that Austin Tice was identified among the remains was quickly and completely contradicted."
Nonetheless, Majd Kamalmaz, an American psychologist who was treating refugees in the region from war-torn Syria, disappeared in Syria after he was stopped at a checkpoint in Mezzah city in February 2017.
