DAMASCUS: The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, arrived in Damascus on Saturday to step up the search for her son and said she hopes she can take him home with her.

Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was one of the first US journalists to make it into Syria after the outbreak of the civil war.

His mother, Debra Tice, drove into the Syrian capital from Lebanon with Nizar Zakka, the head of Hostage Aid Worldwide, an organisation which is searching for Austin and believes he is still in Syria.

“It’d be lovely to put my arms around Austin while I’m here. It’d be the best,” Debra Tice said in the Syrian capital, which she last visited in 2015 to meet with Syrian authorities about her son, before they stopped granting her visas. The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December by Syrian rebels has allowed her to visit again from her home in Texas.

“I feel very strongly that Austin’s here, and I think he knows I’m here… I’m here,” she said. Debra Tice and Zakka are hoping to meet with Syria’s new authorities, including the head of its new administration Ahmed al-Sharaa, to push for information about Austin. They are also optimistic that US president-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday, will take up the cause.

“I am hoping to get some answers.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2025