Assad regime planned US journalist's kidnap for weeks, BBC finds
Austin Tice’s abduction was approved by Syria’s former leader Bashar al-Assad, a source claims.
US journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, was kidnapped in a calculated operation which was more than a month in the planning, the BBC can reveal.
A member of the group which detained Tice has also claimed the abduction was sanctioned by Syria's leader at the time, President Bashar al-Assad.
Tice was seen getting into a car with a driver he knew and trusted. For years, many assumed they had stumbled upon a government checkpoint, and that the abduction of the journalist had been opportunistic.
Tice, as a trained marine, would sometimes share his military experience with rebel fighters - according to several people we spoke to - and would correct fighters on how they used their weapons.