- Syria denies it is holding Austin Tice or other Americans.
- U.S. President Joe Biden says he knows with certainty that Tice is being held by Syria.
- The Syrian Foreign Ministry calls the accusations “misleading, illogical” and “baseless”.
Following President Joe Biden’s accusation that the Syrian government was keeping him, Syria denied on Wednesday that it was holding American journalist Austin Tice or any other Americans.
Damascus “denies it had kidnapped or is keeping any American citizen on its territories,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The statement added that “the U.S. published last week false and illogical remarks that included unsubstantiated claims against Syria that it had kidnapped or detained American individuals like former U.S. Marine Austin Tice.”
Last week, the White House issued a statement to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Tice’s kidnapping as he was in Syria reporting the protracted battle. In that statement, Biden made his remarks. The U.S. is certain that Tice is being held by the regime of President Bashar Assad, and Biden’s statements provided the clearest confirmation to date of that fact.
In his remarks from last week, Biden added, “We can say with with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime. “We have pleaded with the Syrian government to assist us in bringing Austin home on numerous occasions.”
The U.S. administration has encouraged Syria to return every American, according to State Department spokesman Ned Price, who spoke to reporters on Tuesday. The Biden administration had “worked extensively — and that includes directly — with Syrian officials and through third parties,” he claimed, referring specifically to Tice’s situation.
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Price said of Tice, “Syria has never admitted detaining him, and we are not going to be deterred in our efforts. To ensure Austin’s safe return, we will exhaust all options.
In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry denied having any private communications with American government representatives regarding the missing Americans, and it further stated that “any official dialogue with the American government will only be public based on the respect of Syria’s sovereignty.”
As part of the mediation attempts between the U.S. and Syria for Tice’s release, top Lebanese security authorities Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim met with American representatives in Washington in May. The General Security Directorate of Lebanon’s chief, Ibrahim, has mediated difficult hostage releases in the past.
Biden met with Tice’s parents in May and reaffirmed his dedication to securing “Austin’s long overdue homecoming to his family.”
American journalist Austin Tice has spent a decade in captivity in Syria. I am committed to bringing home all U.S. hostages and wrongful detainees abroad and will continue to pursue the release of Austin and other U.S. hostages in Syria.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 10, 2022
The government’s senior hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, a former Army Special Forces officer, made a covert trip to Damascus in the final months of the Trump administration to look for information about Tice and other Americans who had vanished in Syria. The U.S. and Assad’s administration held their highest-level talks in years, but Syrian officials provided no useful information regarding Tice.
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