By newsfirstusa 
A U.S. nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C., is at the grassland in Syria on the lookout for abducted American citizens within the aftermath of the autumn of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Mouaz Moustafa, the manager director of the Syrian Situation Process Pressure (SETF), instructed Fox Information Virtual in an interview from Damascus that he and 6 participants of his group arrived within the capital Wednesday to search for American citizens abducted or held captive via the ousted Assad regime, maximum particularly, American freelance journalist Austin Tice and Syrian American psychotherapist Dr. Majd Kamalmaz.
“God willing, he’s alive. God willing, we can find him and bring him home,” Moustafa mentioned of Tice. “Same for Majd, same for the other Americans whose names are not public.”
U.S. journalist Austin Tice, left, and Syrian American psychotherapist Dr. Majd Kamalmaz. (Citadel Importance Famous person-Telegram/Tribune Information Provider by the use of Getty Photographs | The Kamalmaz Society | Fox Information Virtual)
Tice, who traveled to Syria as the rustic’s civil conflict was once erupting, was once abducted in 2012 time reporting in Daraya, a Damascus suburb. He was once detectable on a video excused months nearest his seize wearing a black blindfold and being led away via a bunch of guys shouting “Allahu Akbar.”
Tice has now not been detectable or heard from since. The Syrian executive has all the time denied protecting Tice or alternative American citizens.
Kamalmaz, a U.S. citizen who helped survivors of Storm Katrina and refugees from war-torn Syria and Kosovo get better from injury and PTSD, was once detained at a central authority checkpoint in Damascus time visiting a population member in February 2017.
Majd Kamalmaz along with his grandchildren. (Kamalmaz Society)
U.S. officers introduced the Kamalmaz population with categorized data previous this occasion, pronouncing they consider the humanitarian died in Syria’s notorious prison system.
He most probably died inside a occasion or two of his detainment, his daughter Maryam instructed Fox Information Virtual in June, mentioning U.S. officers. The officers didn’t say how or the place Dr. Kamalmaz died.
“We will not leave a stone unturned while I’m here in Damascus, and I hope to find them,” mentioned Moustafa.
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The SETF chief has a number of geolocations from assets and guidelines and has dispatched his group to express places in search of Tice.
“Now that Damascus is free, we have no restrictions. We can go anywhere,” he added.
Syrians collect at Umayyad Sq. to praise the faint of 61 years of Baath Birthday party rule in Damascus, Syria, on Dec. 9, 2024. (Murat Sengul/Anadolu by the use of Getty Photographs)
Moustafa praised Tice for his bravery and for touring to Syria to document at the nation’s brutal civil conflict and safe the plight of civilians within the early years of the outbreak.
“The very least that we can do is to look for him. And for a long time, we could only look for him through calling people, trying to find people that had been – that had come out of detention, seeing if they’ve seen him,” he instructed Fox Information Virtual.
Joel Rayburn, the previous U.S. particular envoy for Syria, instructed Fox Information Virtual previous this occasion the ousted Assad regime considered Tice and alternative detainees as “cards” to usefulness as leverage and to get concessions.
“We know it’s almost certain that they have them in their custody, or they’ve had them in their custody, or they know definitively what happened to those people, but they’re absolutely not forthcoming,” Rayburn mentioned.
A torn portrait of Bashir al-Assad, that looks to were organized, is detectable throughout the Presidential Palace on Dec. 10, 2024 in Damascus, Syria. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Photographs)
The U.S. Condition Section is now providing a reward of up to $10 million for info on Tice and has conveyed to the well-known Syrian revolt crew Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that discovering the journalist extra a govern precedence.
“In all of our communications with parties that we know talk to HTS, we have sent very clearly the message that, as they move through Syria liberating prisons, that our top priority is the return of Austin Tice,” mentioned Condition Section spokesperson Matthew Miller.
A Syrian journalist who was once imprisoned via the Assad regime claims he was once detained in a Damascus prison within the Kafr Sousa community with Tice on the identical life till as just lately as 2022, in line with a document from The Sunday Occasions.
Marc Tice, left, and Debra Tice, the oldsters of Austin Tice, a journalist who was once abducted in Syria, replace the media about their son’s situation as they proceed to push for his loose on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024 all through a information convention on the Nationwide Press Membership in Washington, D.C. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)
Moustafa instructed Fox Information Virtual he was once conscious about the object and plans to proceed “straight there” within the coming days to determine additional info.
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“It is every Syrian’s job to do everything they can to get Austin back to his mother and his father, to his country, to his home,” he mentioned.