Former Syrian General: Assad Ordered the Execution of American Journalist Austin Tice in 2013
A former Syrian general who served as an adviser to former President Bashar al-Assad has claimed that Assad personally ordered the execution of American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared near the Syrian capital, Damascus, in 2012.
In an interview with CNN, the defector, General Bassam al-Hassan, stated that Tice “was killed under a direct order from Assad in 2013,” following a failed attempt to escape from captivity. He said he had tried to persuade Assad not to carry out the execution, but “the former president insisted on the decision.”
Al-Hassan, who fled Syria to Iran and then to Lebanon in December 2024, added that he had been questioned by U.S. intelligence agencies over the past few months. He noted that “Russia and Iran were not involved in the case,” asserting that “the decision came solely from Assad.”
He also revealed that he had delivered the execution order to one of his subordinates in the National Defense Forces—a pro-regime militia supported by Iran—without disclosing the location of the burial, saying only that it was “in the vicinity of Damascus.”
Austin Tice, a former U.S. Marine Corps captain and freelance journalist who worked with The Washington Post, disappeared in August 2012 while covering events in Syria. He was 31 years old at the time.
