US journalist Austin Tice was abducted in Syria in 2012 following an operation planned for more than a month, according to a BBC investigation that cites former members of a militia loyal to the former Syrian government.
The investigation found that Tice’s disappearance was not an apparent chance encounter at a checkpoint, as had long been assumed. A former member of the National Defence Forces, identified as Abu Ali, told the BBC that the operation was approved by Syria’s then-president Bashar al-Assad.
Driver allegedly passed information to militia
Abu Ali said Tice’s driver, whom sources described as providing information to the authorities, alerted a senior National Defence Forces member that the journalist was travelling through opposition-held territory while reporting on Syria’s civil war. The BBC identified that official as Sakr Rustom, a nephew of Bassam al-Hassan, who headed the militia and was regarded as a trusted security figure under Assad.
According to Abu Ali, information about Tice was passed to Hassan, who then contacted Assad. Abu Ali said he was later told that the president had authorised the operation. Tice was subsequently monitored rather than immediately seized, the former militia member said.
The BBC reported that Tice’s reporting and his sharing of military experience with rebel fighters led those watching him to suspect he might be linked to US intelligence. The broadcaster said it found no evidence supporting that allegation, while a former senior US official involved in part of Tice’s case denied that he was an intelligence officer.
Several sources told the BBC that, shortly before Tice vanished, his driver secretly removed his backpack so that government operatives could examine items including a laptop and satellite transmitter. Tice disappeared after leaving Damascus in August 2012, when he had reportedly intended to take a break in Lebanon.
Questions over Tice’s fate remain
Abu Ali said the driver instead took Tice to a state facility in the Tahouneh area on the outskirts of Damascus, where militia members detained him. He said Hassan then informed Assad that the American journalist had been captured.
The BBC said it spoke to more than 20 people while identifying the driver as Hamid Abu Obeid. His relatives confirmed he drove Tice away, an account supported by several militia members, the broadcaster reported. The family said Abu Obeid later disappeared and that they did not know whether he was hiding, detained or dead.
After the former government’s collapse, the BBC said it obtained hundreds of pages of Syrian intelligence records that provided definitive evidence that the authorities had held Tice. His whereabouts remain unknown. A former Syrian commander has alleged that Tice was executed, but others have challenged that account and no remains have been found.
Source: BBC News
