Video Surfaces of Missing Journalist in Syria

Freelance journalist Austin Tice has been missing for six weeks in Syria. He last made contact in August. The only indication that he's still alive came in the form of a video that was uploaded to YouTube on September 26^th.

The source of the video is unknown.


The forty-seven second video, entitled, “Austin Tice Still Alive,” shows him trudging on rocky terrain as men with guns and a RPG launcher march the Texas native up a hill, according to NY Daily News.

While marching him up the hill, the men were chanting “God is great” in Arabic.

In Syria, twenty-two journalists have been killed since 1992, with nearly all of the murders occurring during the Syrian Civil War. The Committee to Protect Journalists deemed Syria the most dangerous place in the world for reporters to work. 

On August 20^th, Japanese reporter Mika Yamamoto was shot and killed during intense fighting in Aleppo. Two journalists, a Palestinian correspondent and his Turkish photographer, were with her at the time and are now missing, according to ABC news.

When writing home on Facebook, Tice pleaded his family and friends to “please quit telling [me] to be safe.”

Despite his experience as a Marine, he wished to stay in Syria, “because every single day people here lay down their own [life] for the sake of others.” He claims it is the greatest thing he’s ever done, and that life in Syria means more than it does anywhere else he’s ever been.

The Committee to Protect Journalists exists in order to help news correspondents and writers achieve their dreams without being in severe risk of being taken hostage. The committee has made several demands in Syria for those being held hostage to be released and for the killing of men such as Tice to cease immediately.