US rushes to uncover new information on whereabouts of Austin Tice after collapse of Syrian regime

The US government is rushing to uncover new information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice following the collapse of the Syrian government this weekend.

The US government is rushing to uncover new information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice following the collapse of the Syrian government this weekend. The stunning fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime presents an opportunity to try to gather fresh intelligence about the American journalist who was detained in Syria more than a decade ago, current and former US officials said. One US official told CNN that there is a “full-court press” to find Tice and that the US is “leaving no stone unturned.” The FBI on Sunday renewed its offer of up to $1 million for information that leads to Tice’s safe return. The US State Department is also offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Tice. The top US hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, has traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to engage with stakeholders there. The US has conveyed to the leading rebel group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, that Tice is a priority. “In all of our communications with parties that we know talk to HTS, we have sent very clearly the message that, as they move through Syria liberating prisons, that our top priority is the return of Austin Tice,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday. The US believes Tice was held by the Assad regime, but the Syrian leader never acknowledged detaining him. The US is operating under the assumption that Tice is alive as they have “no information to the contrary,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday. Tice’s mother said last week that the family had new information that her son is “being cared for, and he is well.”