Ex-Syrian commander claims lacking US journalist Austin Tice was executed
The person accused of being liable for holding the lacking American journalist Austin Tice has claimed that ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered his execution, safety sources have instructed the BBC.
Main Common Bassam Al Hassan is a former commander within the Republican Guards who was a part of President Assad’s internal circle.
He was additionally the Chief of Workers of the Nationwide Defence Forces (NDF), the paramilitary group {that a} BBC investigation uncovered was liable for holding Mr Tice after his abduction in 2012.
The invention was made as a part of an upcoming BBC Radio 4 podcast in regards to the disappearance of Austin Tice.
The American journalist vanished close to the Syrian capital of Damascus in August 2012, simply days after his thirty first birthday.
He had been working as a contract journalist and was leaving Syria when he was kidnapped.
The fallen regime persistently denied understanding of his whereabouts – the BBC investigation confirmed that was false and that Mr Tice was being held in Damascus.
Al Hassan, who’s topic to UK, EU, Canadian and US sanctions, oversaw the ability the place Mr Tice was held.
Earlier this yr, he’s mentioned to have met with US legislation enforcement no less than thrice in Lebanon.
Sources declare that no less than a kind of conferences was within the US embassy complicated.
Throughout these conversations, he’s mentioned to have instructed investigators from the FBI and CIA that the now-ousted President Assad ordered the execution of lacking American journalist Austin Tice.
Sources conversant in the conversations instructed the BBC that Al Hassan claims to have initially tried to dissuade President Assad from killing Mr Tice, however that he finally handed on this order and that it was carried out.
Al Hassan can be understood to have offered doable areas for the journalist’s physique. Sources conversant in the FBI investigation have mentioned that efforts to substantiate the validity of Al Hassan’s claims are ongoing, and {that a} search is meant to occur of the websites the place Mr Tice’s physique might be.
Western intelligence sources conversant in the main points of Al Hassan’s declare that President Assad gave the order to kill Mr Tice are sceptical that he would immediately give such an instruction, as he’s recognized for having mechanisms for distancing himself from such actions.
The BBC accompanied Mr Tice’s mom, Debra, to Beirut because the thirteenth anniversary of her son’s disappearance approaches. Upon discovering out that Bassam al Hassan had spoken to US officers, Debra Tice tried to satisfy with Al Hassan herself and contacted the US embassy requesting help.
She instructed the BBC: “I simply need to have the ability to communicate to him as a mom and ask him about my son.” Her try to satisfy with Al Hassan was unsuccessful.
When requested in regards to the claims by Al Hassan, she mentioned her feeling was that he “fed the FBI a narrative that they wished to listen to” to assist them shut the case.
Debra Tice has led a tireless and decided marketing campaign to convey her son house and stays dedicated to discovering him. She instructed the BBC: “I’m his mom, I nonetheless consider that my son is alive and that he’ll stroll free.”
Individually, a former member of the NDF with intimate data of Austin Tice’s detention instructed the BBC “that Austin’s worth was understood” and that he was a “card” that might be performed in diplomatic negotiations with the US.
Bassam Al Hassan was thought of certainly one of President Assad’s most trusted advisors. After the Syrian regime’s collapse in December, Mr Al Hassan had fled to Iran.
Sources near him have instructed the BBC that whereas in Iran, Al Hassan acquired a cellphone name and was requested to come back to Lebanon to satisfy with US officers. It’s believed that he was given assurances that he wouldn’t be detained.
For years, consecutive US presidents have mentioned that Mr Tice, a former US Marine captain, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was a legislation pupil on the prestigious Georgetown College in Washington, was alive.
In December 2024, then President Joe Biden instructed reporters on the White Home that “we consider he is alive,” and that “we predict we will get him again, however we now have no direct proof of that but”.