Lebanon: Mediation Ongoing for Austin Tice, Held in Syria

Tice, a freelance photojournalist, disappeared on August 14, 2012 after being detained at a checkpoint near Damascus (AFP)
Tice, a freelance photojournalist, disappeared on August 14, 2012 after being detained at a checkpoint near Damascus (AFP)
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Lebanon: Mediation Ongoing for Austin Tice, Held in Syria

Tice, a freelance photojournalist, disappeared on August 14, 2012 after being detained at a checkpoint near Damascus (AFP)
Tice, a freelance photojournalist, disappeared on August 14, 2012 after being detained at a checkpoint near Damascus (AFP)

Lebanon is still mediating between the United States and Syria over the fate of American journalist Austin Tice who went missing a decade ago in the war-torn country, a Lebanese general said Tuesday.

Washington maintains that Tice is held by Syrian authorities.

Tice went missing shortly after his 31st birthday on Aug. 14, 2012, at a checkpoint in a contested area west of the Syrian capital of Damascus. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men. He has not been heard from since.

Lebanese Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who met with US officials in Washington in May as part of mediation efforts for Tice’s release, told reporters in Beirut on Tuesday that his mission is ongoing but described it as “long and complicated."

Ibrahim, head of Lebanon’s General Security Directorate, has mediated complicated hostage releases in the past and regularly visits Syria.

In August, President Joe Biden accused Syria of detaining Tice, the clearest indication so far that the US is certain that the journalist is being held by President Bashar Assad's government.

Just few months earlier, in May, Biden met Tice’s parents and reiterated his commitment toward “Austin’s long overdue return to his family.”

Syria promptly denied holding Tice or other Americans.

At the Beirut press conference, Ibrahim struck an upbeat tone.

“Matters might be moving slowly but they are going as they should," he said. “The back-and-forth negotiations did not stop.”

Tice, from Houston, is one of two Americans who went missing in Syria. The other is Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia, who vanished there in 2017.

Tice's work has been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets. He went to Syria to cover the conflict that started in 2011, quickly descending into a full-blown war.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced nearly half of Syria's pre-conflict population of 23 million. More than 5 million of those are now outside Syria.



Barrack Says Hezbollah Involvement in Iran-Israel War Would Be 'Very Bad Decision'

A handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on June 19, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) welcoming US negotiator Thomas Barrack at the presidential palace of Baabda east of Beirut. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
A handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on June 19, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) welcoming US negotiator Thomas Barrack at the presidential palace of Baabda east of Beirut. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
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Barrack Says Hezbollah Involvement in Iran-Israel War Would Be 'Very Bad Decision'

A handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on June 19, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) welcoming US negotiator Thomas Barrack at the presidential palace of Baabda east of Beirut. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
A handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on June 19, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) welcoming US negotiator Thomas Barrack at the presidential palace of Baabda east of Beirut. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)

The US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack on Thursday warned Hezbollah against getting involved in the war between its main backer Iran and Israel.

"I can say on behalf of President (Donald) Trump... that would be a very, very, very bad decision," Barrack said, responding to a question on what the US position would be on any involvement by Hezbollah in the war.

Barrack met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at Baabda Palace and Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.

Hezbollah has condemned Israel's strikes on Iran and expressed full solidarity with its leadership.

Hezbollah on Thursday expressed support for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei following threats by Israeli leaders that he could be killed.

In a statement, Hezbollah said that “threats to assassinate (Khamenei) are foolish and reckless, and will have disastrous consequences.”

But the group has stopped short of making explicit threats to intervene.

Israel's defense minister said Thursday that Khamenei "can no longer be allowed to exist" after an Israeli hospital was hit during an Iranian missile attack.

"Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed -- he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals. He considers the destruction of the state of Israel to be a goal," Israel Katz told journalists in Holon near Tel Aviv. "Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist."

Killing Khamenei would "end the conflict" between Israel and Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.