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From Simon Levis (JO:) and Eric Cox
AQABA, Jordan (Reuters) – The United States is working to bring home a U.S. citizen found in Syria on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in Jordan, where he held meetings to discuss Syria’s political transition.
In media reports, the man was identified as Travis Timmerman.
“Regarding (the American citizen who was found just today, I can’t give you any details on exactly what’s going to happen, other than to say we’re working to get him home, to get him out of Syria,” Blinken said to journalists in Aqaba.
“But for privacy reasons, I can’t share any more details about this,” Blinken added.
CBS News reported that Timmerman identified himself as an American from Missouri and was released from prison earlier this week after Syrian rebel groups overthrew longtime President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend.
Timmerman’s mother, Stacey Collins, told Reuters she thought her son was dead after he had been missing for seven months.
“I really did. But I didn’t want to give up. I didn’t want to give up on my son,” Collins said.
Collins said she was excited to hear about her son, especially since his father became ill.
Timmerman told CBS that he was imprisoned after entering Syria without permission seven months ago for Christian “spiritual purposes.”
The US had no indication that the man was in Syria, White House spokesman John Kirby (NISE:) said at a briefing. “We’re just getting word of this and we’re trying to confirm his identity at this point, so the State Department is working hard on that right now.”
Assad fled to Russia after a 13-year civil war and more than five decades of autocratic rule by his family, during which Syria ran one of the most oppressive police states in the Middle East.
After his ouster, Syrians flocked to the infamous prisons where the Assad regime is estimated to have held tens of thousands of detainees.
Blinken added that efforts are continuing to locate Austin Tice, another American citizen who was kidnapped in Syria more than a decade ago.
“There is no update on Austin Tice, other than to say that we are working every day to find him and bring him home, making sure to let everyone know that this is a priority for the United States,” Blinken said.
Tice, a former US Marine and freelance journalist, was 31 when he was kidnapped in August 2012 while reporting in Damascus.
President Joe Biden said Sunday that the U.S. government believes Tice is alive.
Asked about reports that Tice could be in Iran, Kirby said Washington has ways to keep in touch with interlocutors around the world. “It’s assumed across the court that we’re going to see what we can do to find out more about Austin Tice, and that includes a lot of talking to a lot of different people,” he added.
