A hostage rescue operator in Syria offered a glimmer of Christmas hope in the case of a missing American journalist, telling Fox News Digital that he believes Austin Tice is alive and is hopeful he will be found soon.
While he declines to divulge sensitive details, Gray Bull Rescue’s Bryan Stern said he has intelligence that leads him to believe the 43-year-old Navy veteran and reporter who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012 is alive, or at least I was until recently.
“I would say 100%, I would bet that he is alive, or at least he was two weeks ago,” Stern told Fox News Digital from his hotel room in Syria. “I bet they’re taking care of him and taking care of him,” he continued.
“Furthermore, I affirm that he can be found,” he continued. “We don’t recover bodies. I don’t want to say we wouldn’t, but we’re a nonprofit, we wouldn’t be putting resources into it, we wouldn’t freeze to death, we wouldn’t miss my fourth Christmas with my family, if I didn’t do it. I don’t think we would. was alive and could be found.”
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Stern has been searching prisons for American journalist Austin Tice. (Bryan Stern/Gray Bull Rescue)
Stern has led high-level rescue missions in some of the most dangerous corners of the world, including Ukraine, Russia, Sudan, Israel, Haiti, Lebanon and the United States during natural disasters.
“We have made 12 prison breaks from Russia,” Stern said. “That’s 12 more than the CIA.”
The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and the subsequent takeover of Syria by HTS have offered the Biden administration and Tice’s family a renewed sense of hope that the journalist could be found.
“He could have died from a stomach bug three years ago. And we just don’t know. I don’t think that’s the case,” Stern said. “I have no reason to believe that is the case. There is not a single piece of information, circumstantial or otherwise, that indicates anything like that. In fact, everything I have goes against that.”
For more than a decade, the Syrian government refused to negotiate the release of Tice, who was kidnapped while reporting on the uprising against the Assad regime during the early stages of the Syrian civil war, which finally ended earlier this month after after the Syrian president was overthrown. and fled to Moscow.
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Stern Stern has led high-level rescue missions in some of the most dangerous corners of the world. (Bryan Stern/Gray Bull Rescue)
The mood in Syria is “cautiously happy” after decades of brutal oppression, according to Stern, and although the new ruling force HTS is “not standing in the way” of finding Tice, they are more concerned with learning to govern than with help. in search efforts.
The most likely scenario, according to Stern, is that Tice is detained in a house in a neighborhood, staffed by Alawite friends of Assad, the same branch of Islam as the former leader. Many of the country’s prisons have been searched or emptied and he does not believe President Vladimir Putin will keep Tice in Russia.
“The relationship between Assad and Putin is significantly exaggerated. [Assad] “They’ve been there over two weeks and they haven’t even seen each other,” Stern said.
“The Russians say we don’t need this problem, it’s a great way to annoy future President Trump, I mean, he was obsessed with the Austin Tice case years ago.”
Investigators believe Tice escaped years ago, but was found in just such a neighborhood in Damascus and returned to prison.
The State Department’s Rewards for Justice office is offering a $10 million reward for any information leading to Tice’s discovery, but Stern said he believes anyone with information is motivated more by tribal loyalty than a reward. monetary.
The Gray Bull team has pored over prison records looking for Tice. (Bryan Stern/Gray Bull Rescue)
“Assad is living a good life in the Moscow tower. But make no mistake, he still has reach inside Syria,” Stern said. “Half of the new government last week were Assad’s men.”
“That tribal nexus plus the fear that Bashar Assad might reach out and touch the people who are still in Syria, why would they come forward?”
Another group working with Gray Bull stated this week that they believe Tice is alive.
“We have data that Austin is alive until January 2024, but the president of the United States said in August that he is alive, and we are sure that he is alive today,” Nizar Zakka, president of Hostage Aid Worldwide, said Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
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“We are trying to be as transparent as possible and share as much information as possible.”
Zakka offered little evidence to support his remarks at a news conference in Damascus, although he allegedly used an image to demonstrate the locations where Tice was held from November 2017 to February 2024.
US Hostage Aid Worldwide has engaged with Tice’s family and US authorities in the search for Tice, and the Biden administration has echoed a message of hope that Tice is alive, despite months of little information about his whereabouts.
