The American journalist has been missing in Syria since 2012.
This file photo shows U.S. journalist Austin Tice who went missing in Syria in 2012.amid the search for missing American journalist Austin Tice, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday, as the prisons of former President Bashar Assad empty and more evidence of alleged atrocities emerges.
"It is a message that we have sent to HTS," Miller told reporters. The group has its roots in Al-Qaeda and is a designated terrorist organization in the U.S. and the European Union. Jolani himself is still the subject of a $10 million U.S. bounty.Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images"We have sent very clearly the message that as they move through Syria liberating prisons, that our top priority is the return of Austin Tice," Miller continued.
On Monday, the State Department increased its reward for information on Tice to $10 million. The State Department also offered relocation for anyone that helps information that helps find and recover Tice. Debra and Marc Tice -- Austin's parents -- released a statement urging "anyone who can do so to please assist Austin so he can safely return home to our family" following the collapse of the Assad government.
Tice is one of the 157,000 people disappeared into the bowels of Assad's totalitarian state between 2011 and 2024, per an estimate by the Syrian Network for Human Rights.Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty ImagesRebel fighters surging south from Idlib and north from Daraa emptied government prisons as they advanced on Damascus at the close of an 11-day surprise offensive.
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