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An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday stated he was detained after crossing into the nation on foot seven months in the past on a Christian pilgrimage.
Travis Timmerman seems to have been amongst hundreds of individuals launched from the nation’s infamous prisons after rebels reached Damascus over the weekend, overthrowing President Bashar Assad and ending his household’s 54-year rule.
As video emerged on-line of Timmerman on Thursday, he was initially mistaken by some for Austin Tice, an American journalist who went lacking in Syria 12 years in the past.
Within the video, Timmerman might be seen mendacity on a mattress beneath a blanket in what seemed to be a personal home. A gaggle of males within the video stated that he was being handled effectively and could be safely returned residence.
Later, a Syrian household advised The Related Press they discovered Timmerman barefoot on a foremost street within the countryside of Damascus early on Thursday. He appeared chilly and hungry in order that they introduced him again to their residence.
“I … fed him and referred to as a health care provider,” stated Mosaed al-Rifai, a 68-year-old waste collector, including that Timmerman appeared disoriented.
Al-Rifai stated it was exhausting to speak due to the language barrier nevertheless it appeared Timmerman had been held by an inside safety company. A couple of hours after al-Rifai found him, the insurgent group that now controls Syria’s capital arrived on the household’s home to choose him up, he stated.
Earlier this 12 months, a Missouri State Freeway Patrol bulletin recognized him as “Pete Travis Timmerman,” 29, and stated he had gone lacking in Hungary in early June. In late August, Hungarian police put out a lacking individuals announcement for “Travis Pete Timmerman,” saying he was final seen at a church in Hungary’s capital, Budapest.
Authorities in Missouri and Hungary had shared pictures of a younger man who strongly resembles the one proven in footage on-line from Syria. In interviews with worldwide information retailers on Thursday, the person recognized himself as “Travis Timmerman.”
Missouri courtroom information point out Timmerman is from Urbana, Missouri, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Springfield within the southwestern a part of the state. A commencement listing from Missouri State College exhibits he earned his bachelor’s diploma in finance within the spring of 2017.
Timmerman’s mom, Stacey Collins Gardiner, advised Nationwide Public Radio that he returned residence to Urbana after working in Chicago for a few years. He then left for Budapest with the purpose of writing about his Christian religion and serving to individuals, she stated.
Timmerman had warned her, she added, that his travels would possibly make communication tough. After shedding contact with him throughout his keep in Hungary, Gardiner later discovered that her son had gone to Lebanon.
On Thursday, she heard the information he was discovered via the media.
“I’ll hug him. … After which I most likely received’t let him go,” she stated, laughing. “I’ll say, effectively, thank God you’re nonetheless alive. And I’m so glad. Our prayers got here true.”
U.S. officers stated they have been working to substantiate Timmerman’s id and supply the assist. From Aqaba, Jordan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken advised reporters that the White Home was “working to convey him residence, to convey him out of Syria” however declined additional remark for privateness causes.
Timmerman later spoke with the Al-Arabiya TV community, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the jap Lebanese city of Zahle seven months in the past earlier than being detained and held in a cell alone.
He stated that he was handled effectively in detention, however might hear different younger males being tortured.
“It was OK. I used to be fed. I used to be watered. The one problem was that I couldn’t go to the lavatory once I needed to,” he stated. He stated he was solely allowed to go 3 times a day.
“I used to be not crushed and the guards handled me decently,” he added.
Washington’s high hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, traveled to Lebanon earlier this week in hopes of gathering info on the whereabouts of Tice.
President Joe Biden has stated his administration believed Tice was alive and was dedicated to bringing him residence, although he additionally acknowledged on Sunday that “now we have no direct proof” of his standing. The case has annoyed U.S. intelligence officers for years.
On Thursday, Blinken emphasised the administration’s work on Tice’s case.
“Each single day we’re working to search out him and to convey him residence” Blinken stated. “This can be a precedence for the USA.”
Tice, who has had his work revealed by The Washington Submit, McClatchy newspapers and others, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested space west of Damascus in August 2012 because the Syrian civil struggle intensified.
A video launched weeks after Tice went lacking confirmed him blindfolded and held by armed males. He hasn’t been heard from since. Assad’s authorities had denied that it was holding him.
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Observe the AP’s Syria protection at https://apnews.com/hub/syria
