Syria's new leadership blames Assad for anguish of Austin Tice's family as search continues
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria's new leadership says it holds ousted President Bashar al-Assad responsible for the "pain inflicted" for years on the family of Austin Tice, as the search goes on for the American journalist who went missing in the country more than a decade ago while reporting on the Syrian civil war.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria's new leadership says it holds ousted President Bashar al-Assad responsible for the "pain inflicted" for years on the family of Austin Tice, as the search goes on for the American journalist who went missing in the country more than a decade ago while reporting on the Syrian civil war.
“We hold Bashar al-Assad and his criminal regime accountable for the consequences of Austin’s disappearance and the pain inflicted on his mother — pain, tears, and separation," Obaida Al-Arnaot, official spokesperson and head of the political affairs department of Syria’s interim government, told NBC News in an interview Wednesday.
Arnaot said Syria's interim government had tried to find Tice to reunite him with his family, but has so far had no luck locating the journalist, now 43.
"We tried as much as possible to find information about Austin and return him to his mother, but we have not reached any result," he said.
It comes as a video emerged online overnight claiming to show a missing American alive in the town of Dhiyabia, just outside the Syrian capital Damascus, sparking speculation that it could be Tice. But a senior U.S. official told NBC news it was not Tice and a source close to Tice’s family said that they do not believe the video is their missing son.
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