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The Syrian government denied Wednesday that it is holding American journalist and former Marine Austin Tice hostage days after President Biden accused Damascus of detaining him.
“The U.S. issued last week misleading and illogical statements by the American president and secretary of state that included baseless accusations against Syria that it had kidnapped or detained American citizens including former U.S. Marine Austin Tice,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press.
The ministry went on to deny that it had “kidnapped or is holding any American citizen on its territories.”
The Syrian statement came one week after Biden said Washington knew “with certainty” that Tice “has been held by the Syrian regime.”
“We have repeatedly asked the government of Syria to work with us so that we can bring Austin home,” the president said. “On the tenth anniversary of his abduction, I am calling on Syria to end this and help us bring him home.”
This past Sunday marked a decade since Tice was kidnapped while covering Syria’s long-running civil war.
