Syria rescue-mission operator believes Austin Tice is alive and will be found soon

A hostage rescue operator in Syria offered a glimmer of holiday hope in the case of a missing U.S. journalist, telling Fox News Digital he believes Austin Tice is alive and is hopeful that he will be found soon. 

While refusing to divulge sensitive details, Grey Bull Rescue’s Bryan Stern asserted that he has intelligence that leads him to believe the 43-year-old Marine veteran and reporter who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012 is alive, or at least was up until recently. 

"I would say 100%, I would bet that he is alive, or at least was as of two weeks ago," Stern told Fox News Digital from his hotel room in Syria. "I would bet that he's being cared for and tended to," he went on. 

"I further submit that, he's findable," he went on. "We don’t recover dead bodies. Not to say that we wouldn’t, but we’re a nonprofit, we wouldn’t be putting resources toward that, freezing to death, missing my fourth Christmas with my family, if I didn’t believe he was alive and findable." 

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Stern has been searching through prisons looking for U.S. journalist Austin Tice. (Bryan Stern/Grey Bull Rescue )

Stern has led high-level rescue missions in some of the most dangerous corners of the world, including Ukraine, Russia, Sudan, Israel, Haiti, Lebanon and the U.S. during natural disasters. 

"We have done 12 jailbreaks from Russia," said Stern. "That is 12 more than the CIA."

The ousting of Bashar al-Assad and subsequent takeover of Syria by HTS has offered the Biden administration and Tice’s family a renewed sense of hope that the journalist could be found. 

"He could have died of a stomach bug three years ago. And we just don't know. I don't think that that's the case," said Stern. "I have no reason to believe that that's the case. There's not a single piece of information, circumstantial or otherwise, that indicate anything near that. In fact, everything I have is counter to that."

The Syrian government for more than a decade refused to negotiate the release of Tice, who was abducted while reporting on the uprising against the Assad regime during the early stages of the Syrian civil war, which ultimately ended earlier this month after the Syrian president was ousted and fled to Moscow. 

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Stern Stern has led high-level rescue missions in some of the most dangerous corners of the world. (Bryan Stern/Grey Bull Rescue )

The mood in Syria is "cautiously happy" after decades of brutal oppression, according to Stern, and while the new governing force HTS is "not standing in the way" of finding Tice, they’re more preoccupied with learning how to govern than assisting in the search efforts. 

The most likely scenario, according to Stern, is that Tice is being detained in a home in a neighborhood, looked after by Assad-friendly Alawites, the same branch of Islam as the former leader. Many of the country's prisons have now been searched or emptied and he doesn't believe President Vladimir Putin would hold Tice in Russia.

"The relationship between Assad and Putin is significantly overblown. [Assad] has been there over two weeks and they haven't even seen each other," said Stern. 

"The Russians are like we don't need this problem, that is a great way to p--- off soon-to-be-President Trump, I mean who was obsessed with the Austin Tice case years ago." 

Investigators believe Tice escaped years ago but was found in just such a neighborhood in Damascus and thrown back in detainment. 

The State Department’s Rewards for Justice office is offering a $10 million reward for any information leading to the finding of Tice, but Stern said he believes anyone with information is more driven by tribal loyalty than monetary reward. 

The Grey Bull team has pored through prison records looking for Tice. (Bryan Stern/Grey Bull Rescue )

"Assad is living the good life in the tower in Moscow. But make no mistake, he still has reach inside of Syria," said Stern. "Half of the new government were Assad guys last week." 

"That tribal nexus plus the fear of Bashar Assad being able to reach out and touch people still in Syria, why would they come forward?" 

Another group working with Grey Bull asserted this week that they believe Tice is alive. 

"We have data that Austin is alive till January 2024, but the president of the U.S. said in August that he is alive, and we are sure that he is alive today," Nizar Zakka, president of Hostage Aid Worldwide, said Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

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"We are trying to be as transparent as possible and to share as much information as possible."

Zakka offered little evidence to back up its statements made from a press conference in Damascus, though he reportedly used an image to demonstrate the locations where Tice was held from November 2017 to February 2024.

U.S. Hostage Aid Worldwide has engaged with Tice’s family and U.S. authorities in the hunt for Tice, and the Biden administration has echoed a message of hope that Tice is alive, despite months of little word about his whereabouts.