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An American who spent seven months in a Syrian prison after crossing into the country on foot a Christian pilgrimage was found.
Travis Timmerman, who was found in the town of Dhiyabiya, says he was one of thousands of people freed from Syrian prisons after rebel groups overthrew a brutal regime Bashar al-Assad last weekend.
Speaking to CBS, Mr Timmerman revealed that he was freed by two men with AK-47s on Monday after being detained when he entered Syria for “spiritual purposes”. He told the Al Arabiya TV network that he had crossed into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese city of Zahlé.
After being detained and spending seven months in prison, Timmerman’s “doors were kicked in,” he told CBS. “I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the war could have been more active than it ended up being.
“When we came out, there was no resistance, no real fight.”
Many mistook Mr. Timmerman at first Austin Ticean American journalist who disappeared in Syria 12 years ago and is believed by the US government to still be alive.
A video circulating online shows Mr Timmerman lying on a mattress under a blanket, with a group of men in the video saying he is being treated well and will be returned home safely. In the video, Mr. Timmerman appears relaxed in what appears to be a private home.
Mr. Timmerman said his experience in prison “wasn’t bad.” He told Al Arabiya that they fed him and gave him water, but “the only difficulty was that I couldn’t go to the toilet when I wanted to”. He said he was only allowed to go to the toilet three times a day.
“I was not beaten, and the guards treated me decently,” he said.
However, he said he could hear other young men being tortured.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is currently in Aqaba, Jordan, did not immediately comment on the discovery.
Roger Carstens, the US government’s chief hostage negotiator, traveled to Lebanon earlier this week in hopes of gathering information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, who remains missing.
President Joe Biden said Sunday that his administration believes Tice is still alive. The government believes it can bring him back, he told reporters at the White House, admitting they have “no direct evidence” that he is fine.
Mr Tice disappeared at a checkpoint in a disputed area west of Damascus in August 2012 after the Syrian war broke out a year earlier. He worked as a freelancer and had his works published in The Washington PostMcClatchy Newspapers and others.
In a video released weeks after he disappeared, Tice was shown blindfolded and held by gunmen, but he has not been heard from since.