US rushes to uncover new information on whereabouts of Austin Tice after collapse of Syrian regime

By Jennifer Hansler and Katie Bo Lillis, CNN

(CNN) — The US government is rushing to uncover new information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice following the collapse of the Syrian government this weekend.

The stunning fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime presents an opportunity to try to gather fresh intelligence about the American journalist who was detained in Syria more than a decade ago, current and former US officials said.

One US official told CNN that there is a “full-court press” to find Tice and that the US is “leaving no stone unturned.” The FBI on Sunday renewed its offer of up to $1 million for information that leads to Tice’s safe return. The US State Department is also offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Tice.

The top US hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, has traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to engage with stakeholders there. The US has conveyed to the leading rebel group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, that Tice is a priority.

“In all of our communications with parties that we know talk to HTS, we have sent very clearly the message that, as they move through Syria liberating prisons, that our top priority is the return of Austin Tice,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday.

The US believes Tice was held by the Assad regime, but the Syrian leader never acknowledged detaining him. The US is operating under the assumption that Tice is alive as they have “no information to the contrary,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday. Tice’s mother said last week that the family had new information that her son is “being cared for, and he is well.”

A second US official told CNN the US is looking at all prisons it knew about and those it is now learning about in the wake of the regime collapse as possible sources of information. The US is working to get confirmation of which prisons have been searched and cleared and to get to ones that haven’t. The US is also trying to get any resources and equipment that might help enhance searches for Tice.

One former senior US official said that “it’s certainly a fleeting opportunity” to gather new information about Tice, who was detained at a checkpoint near the Syrian capital of Damascus in August 2012.

“It is likely that the (CIA) and the rest of the intelligence community, which has had difficulty operating in that very challenging space … since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, they are likely pushing back in and trying to reestablish collection platforms from on the ground, rather than doing it from a distance,” the former official told CNN.

Those involved with the efforts to find Tice will be looking for any documents or materials “that will paint a picture of what has happened over the past decade plus since Austin was taken,” the former official said.

“Those have been ongoing efforts from a variety of means since he’s been taken, but now you have people on the ground with direct access,” they said. “Hopefully, before looting gets out of control, or before things are destroyed, they have access and the ability to start collecting and analyzing those materials.”

They’ll also be looking for “any evidence of presence in locations that he might have been reported to have been held,” the former official said. The former official noted they will have to conduct interviews of people believed to be involved in holding Tice, including Syrian intelligence personnel – and to do that, they’ll have to negotiate with the Syrians now in charge. This official told CNN that they believe the US should take this opportunity to establish a dialogue with HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.

The State Department would not say whether there has been any direct contact with Jolani, who leads a US-designated terrorist group. There is “no legal barrier” to direct communications, State Department spokesperson Miller said Tuesday.

“We have the authority to do that under US law,” he said. “That said, I’m just not going to get into individual conversations. We have made clear to all the relevant parties inside Syria what our priorities are, both in the immediate term, and what our priorities are over the intermediate term for the transition process and the formation of a new government.”

Thus far, the efforts have yet to yield new information about Tice, Miller and Kirby said Tuesday. Still, the Tice family is hopeful the swift changes on the ground in Syria may lead to their long-awaited reunion.

“I do believe he will be found,” Debra Tice, Austin’s mother, told “NBC Nightly News” on Monday.

“In chaos, there’s opportunity. This is an opportunity, and it feels stronger than any that we’ve seen or felt in a long time,” said Marc Tice, Austin’s father.

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