US hostage envoy in Beirut to seek information on missing journalist Austin Tice
The State Department says the U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator is in Beirut in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government's top hostage negotiator is in Beirut in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years, the State Department said Monday.
Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, is talking to officials in the region following the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s government to find out where Tice is and “get him home as soon as possible,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Monday.
Lebanon has been involved for years in mediating talks about Tice.
President Joe Biden said Sunday that his administration believed Tice was alive and was committed to bringing him home, though he also acknowledged that “we have no direct evidence” of his status.
