Syria denies kidnapping U.S. journalist, Austin Tice

LEBANON-SYRIA-CONFLICT-MEDIA

Marc (L) and Debra Tice, parents of US journalist Austin Tice who was kidnapped in Syria five years prior, hold respective dated portraits of him during a press conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut on July 20, 2017. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP)

Syria on Wednesday denied kidnapping or holding Austin Tice, a U.S. journalist who disappeared ten years ago.

This comes a week after President Joe Biden demanded that Damascus let him go home.

Issuing a statement on the 10th anniversary of Tice’s captivity, Biden said his administration had “repeatedly asked the government of Syria to work with us so that we can bring Austin home”.

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

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Although the identity of Tice’s captors is not known, his family believes he is alive and still being held in Syria.

Meanwhile, there has been no claim of responsibility for his abduction.

In response, 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.

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