An American identified as Travis Timmerman is the man found today in Syria and initially confused with the American journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in 2012 and of whom there is still no news. The man, who said he was a tourist, said he was arrested by the Syrian government last May and was held in a prison until a few days ago run by the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah in Dhihabiye, near the Syrian capital.

The so-called American tourist claims to have begun a trip to Europe earlier this year and then traveled to Lebanon, to Zahle, in the Bekaa Valley, and from there attempted to reach Damascus, where he was arrested.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was working to repatriate him. “We are working to bring him home,” Blinken said, traveling to Jordan to discuss the situation in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, adding that he “could not provide specifics on what exactly happened.”

(Online Union)