Ex-Syrian commander claims lacking US journalist Austin Tice was executed

[ad_1] 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 advised the BBC.

Main Common Bassam Al Hassan is a former commander within the Republican Guards who was a part of President Assad's inside circle.

He was additionally the Chief of Employees 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 concerning 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 figuring out 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 power the place Mr Tice was held.

Earlier this 12 months, he's mentioned to have met with US regulation enforcement a minimum of 3 times in Lebanon.

Sources declare that a minimum of a kind of conferences was within the US embassy complicated.

Throughout these conversations, he's mentioned to have advised investigators from the FBI and CIA that the now-ousted President Assad ordered the execution of lacking American journalist Austin Tice.

Sources accustomed to the conversations advised the BBC that Al Hassan claims to have initially tried to dissuade President Assad from killing Mr Tice, however that he ultimately handed on this order and that it was carried out.

Al Hassan can also be understood to have supplied doable areas for the journalist's physique. Sources accustomed to 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 could possibly be.

Western intelligence sources accustomed to the main points of Al Hassan's declare that President Assad gave the order to kill Mr Tice are sceptical that he would instantly 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 advised 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 concerning the claims by Al Hassan, she mentioned her feeling was that he "fed the FBI a narrative that they needed 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 advised 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 advised the BBC "that Austin's worth was understood" and that he was a "card" that could possibly be performed in diplomatic negotiations with the US.

Bassam Al Hassan was thought of one in all 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 advised the BBC that whereas in Iran, Al Hassan obtained 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 regulation scholar on the prestigious Georgetown College in Washington, was alive.

In December 2024, then President Joe Biden advised reporters on the White Home that "we consider he is alive," and that "we predict we are able to get him again, however now we have no direct proof of that but".