Missing American Journalist Austin Tice Was Betrayed by His Driver Before Syria Abduction, BBC Report Says
Austin Tice, the American journalist who vanished in Syria more than a decade ago, was reportedly betrayed by his driver and handed over to a militia loyal to ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to a new BBC investigation.
The BBC reported on Sept. 17 that Tice’s driver turned him over to the National Defense Forces (NDF), an Assad-aligned militia. The findings were released in the podcast Where Is Austin Tice? Series 3 of I’m Not a Monster Presents.
Tice, a Houston native who served in the U.S. Marines from 2005 to 2011, returned to the Middle East as a journalist and was covering Syria’s civil war. He is believed to have disappeared from Daraya, Syria, on Aug. 13, 2012, while preparing to travel to Beirut, Lebanon.
Weeks after his abduction, a video surfaced showing a blindfolded Tice being held by armed men. In it, he is heard saying, “Oh, Jesus.” It was the last known sign of him, according to The Guardian. In 2022, then-President Joe Biden said the U.S. knew “with certainty” that Syrian authorities had Tice in their custody.
The Assad government had long denied kidnapping Tice. But after the regime’s collapse in 2024, the BBC said it uncovered confidential Syrian intelligence files indicating he had been detained by Assad’s government.
The BBC also spoke with Abu Ali, a former NDF member, who said Tice’s driver—described by sources as an alleged informant for the regime—told an NDF official that Tice had been traveling through rebel areas and reporting on the opposition.
At the time, Assad’s government was cracking down on journalists covering its human rights abuses. According to Abu Ali, intelligence about Tice reached Assad himself, who told the group to abduct him.
NDF surveillance of Tice continued after that alleged order, the BBC reported. Abu Ali said the driver eventually told the militia that Tice’s actions appeared suspicious.
Sources claimed to the BBC that Tice was aiding rebels, though the outlet said it found no evidence of that. A former senior U.S. official also denied that Tice worked in intelligence.
After celebrating his 31st birthday on Aug. 11, 2012, Tice planned to take a break in Lebanon before leaving Syria. Instead, sources said, he was driven to a state facility on the outskirts of Damascus where an NDF official had an office.
Abu Ali told the BBC that the driver said he pulled a gun as the car approached the gates. Tice initially thought his driver was joking, then realized what was happening. Tice pulled out his checkbook and offered the driver any amount of money, Abu Ali recounted, but the abduction went ahead. NDF officials took Tice and covered his eyes, according to Abu Ali.
The BBC identified the driver as Hamid Abu Obeid, who is accused in the report of betraying Tice. Abu Obeid’s family said they do not know his current whereabouts and were unaware of his alleged involvement in Tice’s disappearance.
The family, Palestinian refugees living in poverty, told the BBC that Abu Obeid had been offered a passport, Syrian citizenship, and a weapon if he turned Tice in. They claimed he received only a pistol after the kidnapping.
Abu Obeid’s wife told the outlet that her husband disappeared after a man who knew about his role in Tice’s case threatened to inform the U.S. embassy in exchange for a promise of asylum. She said masked men later came to their home and took his laptop and other belongings.
PEOPLE reached out to The Family of Austin Tice website and the U.S. State Department on Sept. 17 about the BBC report but did not receive a response.
In December 2024, Austin’s mother, Debra Tice, said at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., that she believed her son was alive based on a then-new report.
“We have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government, Austin Tice is alive, Austin Tice is treated well,” Debra said. “And there is no doubt about that.”
Debra said the U.S. government was concealing the source’s identity, but she claimed officials had verified the source’s credibility.
She has also expressed optimism that President Donald Trump would bring her son home, saying Trump had previously “had an obsession” with helping Austin during his first term.