Twenty-nine-year-old Travis Timmerman was freed from a Syrian prison cell this week, one of at least two US citizens who went missing under the Assad regime. The US has asked leading rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham for its help in locating journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing since 2012.
Timmerman was last seen seven months ago in Hungary before he was discovered barefoot this week in a Damascus suburb. In an interview with CBS, he said he illegally crossed from Lebanon to Syria by foot while on a Christian pilgrimage. Timmerman said that upon his arrest, he was allowed to use the bathroom only three times per day but was otherwise well cared for and fed.
Roughly 150,000 people—mostly Syrians—have gone missing under the Assad regime, with nearly 60,000 believed to have been killed or tortured in prison cells. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham—which ended the regime’s 54-year rule this week—has vowed to close the prisons. See footage from the Sednaya prison break here.
