Syrians found an American citizen on Thursday, in one of the prisons of the Bashar al-Assad regime, near Damascus. While those who found him initially thought he was the American journalist Austin Tice, who had disappeared in Syria since 2012, American journalists confirmed that he was not Tice, and that He told foreign correspondents that his name was Travis, and that he had crossed from Lebanon on foot, to “make a pilgrimage to Syria.”

Syrians who found the man said he was disoriented and barefoot, and they published a video clip of the man lying on the ground, with a number of people and reporters around him.

CNN's chief foreign correspondent, Clarissa Ward, who is currently in Damascus, said in response to the video posted of the man, "This is 100% not Austin Tice. I have no idea who he is, but it is not Austin Tice."

Journalist Matt Bradley, a correspondent for the American network NBC NEWS, said that the man who was found in Syria was not Austin Tice. He said that the man told him that his name was Travis, and he refused to tell him his family name.

Bradley said the man told him he was a “pilgrim” who crossed into Syria on foot, before he was detained. He stated that he was detained in a prison for 7 months, but said that he was treated “well.”

When an NBC News correspondent asked him about his religious convictions that led him to cross the mountains from Lebanon to Syria, he responded by saying that he had been reading sacred texts extensively recently, but others interrupted him before he could explain his point of view.

Bradley said that the man, named Travis, seemed unconcerned with the situation he was in, nor did he care about the journalists who gathered around him.

When one of the people insisted that he would be taken to safety, and under American care, he responded, saying: “I am really fine here, I can answer more details.”

The man said that the only problem he faced during his 7 months of imprisonment, in the prisons of one of the most cruel regimes, was that he had a problem entering the bathroom.

His name is not Travis

A bulletin for missing persons in the state of Missouri showed that the person found in Syria is named Pete Timmerman, and he went missing on February 6, 2024, in Budapest, Hungary, and that he was born on December 2, 1995.

Finding Austin Tice

The United States is conducting intensive efforts to search for Austin Tice, and the US State Department stated that Washington’s envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, is visiting Beirut as part of intensive efforts to find Tice, while White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that other officials are seeking information. From people in Syria.

Sullivan added in an interview on ABC NEWS Monday, “This is a top priority for us to find Austin Tice, locate the prison where he may be being held, extract him from it, and return him home safely to his family.”

Tice has been missing since 2012

Tice, a former US Marine and freelance journalist, was 31 years old when he was kidnapped in August 2012 while covering the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted by opposition fighters on Sunday after they took control of the capital, Damascus. Syria denied detaining him.

Assad fled to Russia after a 13-year civil war and six decades of family rule.