A senior Syrian military official has claimed that former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad ordered the execution of missing American journalist Austin Tice, according to a new BBC investigation.
The allegations were made by Major General Bassam al-Hassan, a former commander in the Republican Guard and close confidant of Assad.
He also served as Chief of Staff of the National Defence Forces (NDF) - a regime-aligned paramilitary group that a previous BBC investigation claims was responsible for detaining Tice after his disappearance in 2012.
Tice, a freelance journalist and former US Marine, went missing near Damascus in August 2012 while attempting to leave Syria after reporting on the country's civil war. For years, the Assad regime denied any knowledge of his whereabouts.
However, according to the BBC, new evidence shows that Tice was in fact held in a facility in Damascus under the supervision of al-Hassan.
The claims emerge as part of an upcoming BBC Radio 4 podcast investigating Tice’s disappearance.
The network reports that al-Hassan oversaw the site where Tice was imprisoned, and that he met with US law enforcement officials on at least three occasions in Lebanon earlier this year. One of those meetings reportedly took place inside the US embassy compound.
During those meetings with representatives of the FBI and CIA, al-Hassan allegedly stated that Assad had personally ordered Tice’s execution. The general is said to have claimed he initially tried to dissuade the Syrian tyrant but ultimately passed on the order, which he says was then carried out.
The BBC reports that al-Hassan also provided potential locations where Tice's body may be found. Sources familiar with the US investigation confirmed that efforts are ongoing to verify the general's claims, and that searches are being prepared at the identified sites.
However, some Western intelligence sources cited by the BBC are sceptical.
They noted that Assad has historically relied on layers of deniability and delegation when dealing with sensitive operations, and they questioned whether he would have issued such an order directly.
The BBC accompanied Tice's mother, Debra Tice, on a recent trip to Beirut as the 13th anniversary of her son's disappearance approaches. Upon learning that al-Hassan had spoken to US officials, she attempted to meet him in person and reached out to the US embassy for assistance. Her request was unsuccessful.
Speaking to the BBC, Debra Tice said she believed al-Hassan may have told US authorities "a story they wanted to hear" in order to help close the case. She added: "I am his mother, I still believe that my son is alive and that he will walk free."
A former member of the NDF also told the BBC that Tice had significant value as a potential bargaining chip in negotiations with the US.
According to the report, al-Hassan fled to Iran following the collapse of the Syrian regime in December. He was later contacted by phone and invited to Lebanon to meet with US officials, under assurances that he would not be detained.
Austin Tice is one of tens of thousands still unaccounted for in Syria, where more than 130,000 people are estimated to have gone missing during the civil war, including victims of forced disappearance, detention, and abduction.
Among them are at least 11 American citizens who have been killed or forcibly disappeared, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, with several - including Tice - still missing.
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