Biden Vows to Bring Home Missing Journalist Austin Tice Taken Hostage in 2012

President Joe Biden on Sunday vowed to bring home journalist Austin Tice, a former US Marine who has been missing in Syria since 2012, following the sudden collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in the wake of a large-scale rebel offensive.

Biden was delivering remarks on the fall of Assad in the country, hailing the moment as a “historic opportunity” for peace and the formation of a new Syrian state.

Speaking from the White House, Biden expressed optimism while emphasizing the importance of an independent government that serves all Syrians. Biden also confirmed reports suggesting Assad and his close advisors fled to Moscow, where Russian state media claims he has been granted asylum.

As he departed the briefing, journalists asked him questions, with one reporter asking what the government knew about where Tice might be and whether he was safe.

Biden paused at the doorway and turned to address the question.

“We believe he’s alive,” the president said. “We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet. And Assad should be held accountable.”

“Do you have a plan to go get him Mr. President?” another reporter asked.

“We want to get him out. We have to find where he is,” Biden replied.

Tice is believed to have been captured near Damascus on August 14, 2012, while reporting as a freelance journalist on Syria’s civil war. He was last seen in a video released weeks after his capture, blindfolded and appearing distressed.

No group or government ever claimed responsibility for his abduction but US officials concluded that he was likely being held by the Syrian government.

Watch above on MSNBC.