WASHINGTON _ Six years after journalist Austin Tice disappeared in war-torn Syria, the State Department says it believes he is alive and that his case has "attention at the highest level" of the Trump administration, including its new envoy for hostage affairs, Robert C. O'Brien.
Tice, a former Marine, was freelancing for McClatchy, The Washington Post and other outlets when he was detained en route from Syria to Lebanon on Aug. 14, 2012. He was last sighted six weeks after his disappearance, when a video was posted that showed him being guided up a rocky hill by a group of armed men.
Tice's parents, Debra and Marc, often come to Washington for updates. Debra Tice has been in Washington the last two weeks meeting with administration officials and other groups such as Reporters Without Borders, and is involved with messaging and the work being done to bring her son home.
