The person accused of being responsible for capturing the missing American journalist Austin Tice has claimed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered his execution, security sources have told the BBC.
Major General Basam Al Hasan is a former commander in the Republican Guards who was part of the internal circle of President Asad.
He was also the Chief of Staff of the National Defense Forces (NDF), the paramilitary group A BBC investigation was openly responsible After his kidnapping in 2012 to catch Mr. Tice.
The discovery was made as part of an upcoming BBC Radio 4 Podcast about the disappearance of Austin Tice.
American journalists disappeared near the capital of Syrian capital Damascus in August 2012, a few days after their 31st birthday.
He was working as an independent journalist and was leaving Syria when he was abducted.
The fallen regime denied to know about its hideout – the BBC investigation revealed that it was false and was being held in Sri Tis Damascus.
Al Hasan, which is subject to Britain, European Union, Canadian and US sanctions, inspects the feature where Sri Tis was held.
Earlier this year, he is said to have met with the US law enforcement at least three times in Lebanon.
Sources claim that at least one of those meetings was in the US embassy complex.
During these conversations, he said that he had told the investigators of the FBI and CIA that now the President Asad ordered the missing American journalist Austin Tice to disappear.
Sources familiar with the conversations told the BBC that Al Hasan claimed that initially an attempt was made to stop President Assad from killing Mr. Tisses, but it was eventually passed on the order and it was done.
Al Hasan is also understood that a possible place has been provided for the journalist’s body. Sources familiar with the FBI investigation have said that efforts are on to confirm the validity of Al Hasan’s claims, and that a discovery is of sites where Mr. Tice’s body can be.
Western intelligence sources, familiar with the description of Al Hasan’s claim, said that President Assad ordered to kill Mr. Tis that he would directly give such instructions, as he is known for the mechanism to remove himself from such tasks.
BBC Shri Tiss’s mother, along with Debra, as the 13th anniversary of her son’s disappearance with Beirut. On finding out that Bassam Al Hasan spoke to the US authorities, Debra Tice himself tried to meet with Al Hasan and requested the US embassy to assist.
He told the BBC: “I just want to be able to talk to her as a mother and ask her about my son.” His attempt to meet Al -Hasan failed.
When asked about Al Hasan’s claims, he said that his feeling was “he had given a story to the FBI that he wanted to hear” to help him close the case.
Debra Tice has led a tireless and firm campaign to bring his son home and is committed to finding him. He told the BBC: “I am his mother, I still believe that my son is alive and he will be free.”
A former NDF member with intimate knowledge of separate, Austin Tice’s custody told the BBC that “the value of Austin was deemed” and it was a “card” that could be played in diplomatic talks with the US.
Basam Al Hasan was considered one of the most reliable advisors of President Assad. After the fall of Syrian rule in December, Mr. Al Hasan fled to Iran.
Sources close to him have told the BBC that while living in Iran, Al Hasan received a phone call and was asked to come to Lebanon to meet with US authorities. It is believed that he was assured that he would not be taken into custody.
Over the years, the US presidents have said that the American Marine Captain, Mr. Tice, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was a law student at the University of Georgetown in Washington.
In December 2024, the then President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House that “we believe he is alive,” and that “we think we can get it back, but we have no direct evidence yet”.
