Syria denies kidnapping or holding U.S. journalist missing for 10 years

AMMAN/WASHINGTON — Syria on Wednesday denied kidnapping or holding a U.S. journalist who disappeared a decade ago a week after President Joe Biden demanded that Damascus let him go home.

Austin Tice, a former U.S. Marine and freelance journalist, was kidnapped in Aug. 2012 aged 31 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

His family believes he is alive and still being held in Syria. The identity of Tice's captors is not known, and there has been no claim of responsibility for his abduction.

On Wednesday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry described Tice as a U.S. serviceman and denied the government was holding him or any other U.S. citizen.

"These are baseless allegations," the statement said.

Issuing a statement last week marking the tenth anniversary of his captivity, Biden said Washington knew "with certainty" that Tice has been held by the Syrian government.

The U.S. State Department did not have any immediate comment on the Syrian government's statement.

Biden last week said his administration had "repeatedly asked the government of Syria to work with us so that we can bring Austin home."

EFFORTS RESUMED

Washington suspended its diplomatic presence in Syria in 2012 at the onset of the country's civil war.

Biden met with Tice's parents at the White House in early May and told them he would work "relentlessly" until his return is secured. Efforts to secure his release appeared to have picked up since then.

In June, Lebanon's intelligence chief, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, said U.S. officials wanted him to resume efforts to bring Tice home and that he would visit Syria for talks on the issue.

In an interview with General Security magazine, his agency's official publication, Ibrahim said that in past talks with Damascus on Tice, Syria had raised demands related to the withdrawal of U.S. forces, a resumption of diplomatic relations and the lifting of some U.S. sanctions.

On Monday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price repeated Washington's calls to Syria to ensure Tice and every U.S. national held in Syria can return home.

"When it comes to our efforts to seek the safe return of Austin, we have engaged extensively – and that includes directly – with Syrian officials and through third parties," he said, declining to give further details.

The families of hostages and detainees have begun to collectively raise their voices to urge Biden to prioritize the issue and take steps such as arranging further prisoner swaps with foreign governments.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie)