Austin Tice, a US journalist and former Marine, was abducted near Damascus on 14 August 2012 by forces of Bashar al-Assad's government. Records and witnesses p…
A Georgetown Law student and ex-Marine captain, Tice became one of very few foreign reporters inside Damascus, filing for the Washington Post and McClatchy.
He got into a car to travel to Lebanon and was taken by forces loyal to the Assad government. Some accounts date it to 13 August.
A clip of under a minute, staged to suggest jihadists held him. Later reporting traced it to the regime.
He slipped out of his cell, was recaptured in Mazzeh and handed to General Bassam al-Hassan. He is documented in custody until early 2013.
Debra Tice met officials, embassies and aid groups in Damascus looking for any lead on her son.
A US troop withdrawal, restored relations and sanctions relief. The talks collapsed without proof of life.
Damascus denied holding him or any other American.
No. Biden said, 'We believe he's alive', but admitted there was no direct evidence. A 20 December site search found no leads.
Syrian intelligence files reported by the BBC showed the Assad government held Tice, linking him to the Tahouneh facility.
Ex-general al-Hassan says Assad ordered him killed in 2013. The US has not corroborated it; CNN said he failed an FBI polygraph.
An FBI-led team searched sites named by al-Hassan for under three days. Nothing was found.
BBC and NPR say Assad approved the abduction. The FBI keeps a US$1 million reward. His family believes he is alive.
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