It’s been nine years since someone took Marine veteran Austin Tice hostage in Syria
This past Tuesday was Austin Tice’s 40th birthday. Saturday marks nine years that he has been held hostage in the Middle East. The Marine veteran turned law school student traveled to Syria in May 2012 to cover the civil war in that country as a freelance journalist . He wanted to tell the story of the conflict’s impact on the Syrian people. On his way out of the country — he planned to leave for Lebanon Aug. 14 — he got into a car in the southern Damascus suburb of Darayya to make the trip, but shortly after leaving he was detained at a checkpoint, according to information provided by his family. At that point, Tice disappeared. It was not until five weeks later that a 43-second video titled “Austin Tice is Alive” was posted online showing him blindfolded and held by unidentified armed men. To this day, nine years later, no one has claimed responsibility for his capture. In November 2018, then-Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Robert O’Brien announced at the National