Topline
A man freed from a Syrian prison on Thursday after monthslong imprisonment identified himself as Travis Timmerman, an American reported missing by law enforcement earlier this year after traveling to Hungary.
Timmerman was reported missing by Missouri police after law enforcement said he traveled to Hungary.
Key Facts
Timmerman, 29, was found Thursday while wandering barefoot in a suburb south of Damascus after rebel forces freed him from an unspecified Syrian prison, according to multiple reports.
Timmerman graduated from Missouri State University in 2017 and briefly worked in Chicago after earning his law degree before returning home to Urbana, Missouri, where he wrote about nature and his Christian faith, his mother Stacey Gardiner told NPR.
Gardiner said her son traveled to Budapest, Hungary, to work on his writing and help people, and his sister Pixie Rogers told NBC News Timmerman was also traveling to Prague, but communication dropped off after Timmerman told Gardiner he was heading to Lebanon.
Timmerman said he was on a pilgrimage to Damascus before he was detained by Syrian officials, who found him as he lived in a mountainous area near the Lebanese border “without food and water” for three days, though it’s not immediately clear how long Timmerman was imprisoned, NBC News reported.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham—the primary organization that ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government last week—said in a statement Thursday that Timmerman had been released by the rebel group, noting they would “cooperate directly” with the U.S. to free other missing Americans in Syria, according to the New York Times (the Islamist group is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization).
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What To Watch For
A U.S. official told CBS News the government was aware of an American being released outside of Damascus and said it would seek to provide support. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly said the U.S. was “working to bring [Timmerman]
home.” Timmerman said he plans to travel to Jordan before attempting a return to Damascus, according to NBC News.
Surprising Fact
Timmerman was first seen in a video that emerged on social media overnight, leading some to believe the man was Austin Tice, a journalist who disappeared near Damascus in 2012. Senior Biden administration officials said Wednesday an effort to find Tice was ongoing, though the U.S. did not have “new verifiable information” on his whereabouts, the Times reported.
Key Background
Thousands of detainees fled Syrian prisons this week after Bashar al-Assad’s government was overthrown over the weekend. The Assad family held authoritarian rule over Syria for more than 50 years, with Bashar al-Assad serving as president for the last 24 years. The country launched into a civil war in 2011, though a counteroffensive backed by Russia reclaimed most of the country by 2016. Rebel forces maintained control over a portion of northwestern Syria while the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces held control over an area in the east. The civil war regained life in recent weeks, as Assad’s allies Iran and Russia engaged in their own conflicts, leading rebel forces to advance on Damascus. Assad and his family have since been granted asylum in Moscow.