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Hostage Hunter Fears Ousted Syria Rulers Still Hiding US Reporter Tice

A file picture of Austin Tice, and his parents Marc and Debra giving a press conference in Beirut on December 4, 2018 - AFP
A file picture of Austin Tice, and his parents Marc and Debra giving a press conference in Beirut on December 4, 2018 - AFP
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Hostage Hunter Fears Ousted Syria Rulers Still Hiding US Reporter Tice

A file picture of Austin Tice, and his parents Marc and Debra giving a press conference in Beirut on December 4, 2018 - AFP
A file picture of Austin Tice, and his parents Marc and Debra giving a press conference in Beirut on December 4, 2018 - AFP

A former prisoner spearheading a private effort to help find captive US journalist Austin Tice is concerned that deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad may be hiding him to use as leverage in securing his own future.

Nizar Zakka, who was detained in Iran on spying charges between 2015 and 2019, now runs Hostage Aid Worldwide, a non-profit group working with families to free kidnapped civilians.

This week he was in Syria in the immediate aftermath of the overthrow of Assad.

The overthrow of the Assad clan has allowed thousands of Syrian prisoners -- and one other American -- to escape Syria's notorious detention centers, but many are still missing, including Tice, according to AFP.

Tice was working for Agence France-Presse, McClatchy News, The Washington Post, CBS and other media outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus.

Zakka, who is in contact with Syria's new transitional government led by the opposition fighters of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has been scouring liberated prisons for signs of the missing American.

- Helicopter escape -

But he believes that members of the ousted Assad clan or former officials may still be holding him, hoping to use his fate as leverage to secure a ransom or some kind of legal protection.

Before the fall of Assad, Zakka had a good idea of where Tice might be.

"The intel we have as late as early January 2024 was that he was in certain places," the Lebanese-American campaigner told AFP in Damascus.

"We have been tracking all along. We have intel about where he was at this date, where he was at that date, which prison, which guard."

But after the rapid collapse of Assad's rule threw the vast Syrian detention network into chaos, this data could only lead Hostage Aid so far.

Zakka thinks a senior former government figure such as Maher al-Assad, the leader's younger brother, may have arranged to hide Tice inside Syria.

A former official of the ousted government told AFP that Maher only learned about his brother's escape after the fact and subsequently took a helicopter, probably towards the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

- Text message campaign -

Zakka favors a theory that Tice is being held in a secret safehouse somewhere in or near Damascus.

"Because I don't believe the regime will trust anybody to take him," he explained. "They cannot take him to Russia with them because I'm sure the Russian government would not accept that.

"And I don't believe they're going to trust the Iranians ... So I believe he's somewhere over here."

Hostage Aid is therefore pushing on with its campaign to find Tice inside Syria, sending a million text messages to citizens asking for information and broadcasting televised appeals for information.

The drive has already borne unexpected fruit. Civilians who found an escaped American detainee that the US government did not even know was in Syria contacted the Tice hotline immediately.

Travis Timmerman, 29, had been reported missing in Budapest, Hungary, but was found wandering shoeless in the Damascus suburbs after the doors of the notorious "Palestine Branch" detention centre were thrown open.

Thanks to the Tice campaign, his Syrian rescuers knew who to call -- giving Zakka hope that the other US hostage may also soon be freed.

"We never failed, and this time we're not going to fail and I promised the mom that we're going to get Austin home," Zakka declared.

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China Has Expanded its Nuclear Force, Strengthened Ties to Russia, the Pentagon Says

An American flag is flown next to the Chinese national emblem outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
An American flag is flown next to the Chinese national emblem outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
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China Has Expanded its Nuclear Force, Strengthened Ties to Russia, the Pentagon Says

An American flag is flown next to the Chinese national emblem outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
An American flag is flown next to the Chinese national emblem outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

China is expanding its nuclear force, has increased military pressure against Taiwan and has strengthened its ties with Russia over the past year, according to a Pentagon report Wednesday that details actions accelerating key areas of conflict with the United States.

The report, however, also notes that the recent rash of corruption allegations within China's powerful Central Military Commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army, is hurting Beijing’s military growth and could slow its campaign to modernize.

The impact, said a senior defense official, is a bit of a mixed bag because while there has been progress in some programs, China has slid back in others.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the US assessment, warned that Beijing is working toward developing a more diverse and technologically sophisticated nuclear force. While the expected number of nuclear warheads has maintained consistent growth, China is broadening its targeting abilities, The AP reported.

Beijing is going to be able to go after more and different types of targets, do greater damage and have more options for multiple rounds of counterstrikes, the official said. The US is urging China to be more transparent about its nuclear program, while also warning that America will defend its allies and take appropriate steps in response.

According to the report, which provides the annual US assessment of China’s military power and is required by Congress, China had more than 600 operational nuclear warheads as of May, and the US expects it will have more than 1,000 by 2030.

The Biden administration has worked to maintain a balance with China, building up the US military presence in the Asia-Pacific region to be ready to counter Beijing while also encouraging increased communications between the two countries at the diplomatic and military levels.

That uptick in talks has coincided with a decrease in coercive and risky intercepts of US aircraft since late 2023, compared with the previous two years. China still, however, does what the US military considers “unsafe” flights near American and allied forces in the region.

The Pentagon’s national defense strategy is built around China being the greatest security challenge for the US, and the threat from Beijing influences how the US military is equipped and organized for the future.

The corruption within the PLA has resulted in at least 15 high-ranking officials being ousted in a major shakeup of China’s defense establishment.

“This wave of corruption touches every service in the PLA, and it may have shaken Beijing’s confidence," the report said.

In June, China announced that former Defense Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor, Wei Fenghe, were expelled from the ruling Communist Party and accused of corruption. Last month, another senior official, Miao Hua, was suspended and put under investigation, according to China's Defense Ministry.

The US report points to a persistent increased military presence by China around Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own. It said China's navy has been in the region more and that there have been increased crossings into the island's air defense identification zone and major military exercises in the area.

Just last week, a large deployment of Chinese navy and coast guard vessels in the waters around Taiwan triggered alarm as Taiwanese officials said it looked like China was simulating a blockade. Officials have said there were as many as 90 ships involved in what Taiwan described as two walls designed to demonstrate that the waters belong to China.

Taiwan split from communist China in 1949 and has rejected Beijing’s demands that it accept unification. China says it will do so by force if necessary, and leaders have said they want to be ready to do so by 2027.

The United States is obligated under domestic law to help defend Taiwan and give it weapons and technology to deter invasion.

The island democracy has been the chief source of tension between Washington and Beijing for decades and is widely seen as the most likely trigger for a potentially catastrophic US-China war.

More broadly, the report concluded that the PLA continued its drive to develop greater military capabilities but “made uneven progress toward its 2027” milestone for modernization.

One area of expansion, the report said, is with unmanned aerial systems, which officials said are “quickly approaching US standards.”

Regarding Russia, the report said China has supported Russia's war against Ukraine and sold Russia dual-use items that Moscow's military industry relies on. Dual use items can be used for both civilian and military purposes.