DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the nation on foot seven months in the past on a Christian pilgrimage.
Travis Timmerman seems to have been amongst 1000’s of individuals launched from the nation’s infamous prisons after rebels reached Damascus over the weekend, overthrowing President Bashar Assad and ending his household’s 54-year rule.
As video emerged on-line of Timmerman on Thursday, he was initially mistaken by some for Austin Tice, an American journalist who went lacking in Syria 12 years in the past.
Within the video, Timmerman might be seen mendacity on a mattress underneath a blanket in what gave the impression to be a non-public home. A bunch of males within the video stated that he was being handled properly and can be safely returned dwelling. It was not instantly clear the place Timmerman had been held.
This yr, a Missouri State Freeway Patrol bulletin recognized him as Pete Travis Timmerman, 29, and stated he had gone lacking in Hungary in early June. In late August, Hungarian police put out a lacking individuals announcement saying that Timmerman was final seen at a church in Hungary’s capital, Budapest.
Missouri court docket data point out that Timmerman is from Urbana, Missouri, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Springfield within the southwestern a part of the state.
U.S. officers stated they had been working to substantiate Timmerman’s identification and supply the assist wanted. From Aqaba, Jordan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed reporters that the White Home was “working to convey him dwelling, to convey him out of Syria” however declined additional remark for privateness causes.
“I can’t provide you with any particulars on precisely what’s going to occur,” he stated.
Timmerman later gave an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV community, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the jap Lebanese city of Zahle seven months in the past earlier than being detained and held in a cell alone.
He stated that he was handled properly in detention, however might hear different younger males being tortured.
“It was OK. I used to be fed. I used to be watered. The one problem was that I couldn’t go to the lavatory once I needed to,” he stated. He stated he was solely allowed to go 3 times a day.
“I used to be not crushed and the guards handled me decently,” he added.
The U.S. authorities’s high hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, traveled to Lebanon earlier this week in hopes of amassing info on the whereabouts of Tice.
President Joe Biden has stated his administration believed Tice was alive and was dedicated to bringing him dwelling, although he additionally acknowledged on Sunday that “we now have no direct proof” of his standing. The case has pissed off U.S. intelligence officers for years.
On Thursday, Blinken emphasised the administration’s work on Tice’s case.
“Each single day we’re working to search out him and to convey him dwelling” Blinken stated. “This can be a precedence for the USA.”
Tice, who has had his work revealed by The Washington Submit, McClatchy newspapers and others, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested space west of Damascus in August 2012 because the Syrian civil conflict intensified.
A video launched weeks after Tice went lacking confirmed him blindfolded and held by armed males. He hasn’t been heard from since. Assad’s authorities had denied that it was holding him.
Copyright 2024 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.