{"id":136468,"date":"2024-12-13T06:38:59","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T23:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=136468"},"modified":"2024-12-13T06:38:59","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T23:38:59","slug":"travis-timmerman-who-says-he-crossed-into-syria-by-foot-is-free-after-7-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=136468","title":{"rendered":"Travis Timmerman who says he crossed into Syria by foot is free after 7 months"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) \u2014 An American citizen who disappeared seven months ago into former <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/syria\">Syrian President Bashar Assad\u2019s<\/a><\/span> notorious prison system was suddenly discovered Thursday outside Damascus after being released and handed over to rebel forces, Syria\u2019s new authorities said. <\/p>\n<p>The political affairs office of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that led the lightning offensive to topple Assad\u2019s government, said the group had secured the release of U.S. citizen Travis Timmerman. In interviews with media in Syria, Timmerman said he was imprisoned after crossing from Lebanon into Syria on a Christian pilgrimage.<\/p>\n<p>He appeared to be among the <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/syria-saydnaya-prison-assad-families-search-9f533d54b4df72f97416f90921dd2a9c\">thousands of people released from Syria\u2019s sprawling military prisons<\/a><\/span> this week after rebels reached Damascus, <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/syria\">overthrowing Assad<\/a><\/span> and ending his family\u2019s 54-year rule.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe affirm our readiness to cooperate directly with the U.S. administration to complete the search for American citizens disappeared by the former Assad regime,\u201d the group said, adding that a search was underway for <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/tice-journalist-syria-carstens-e20547144d1ad0580e7d64462b8c4135\">Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing<\/a><\/span> in Syria 12 years ago. <\/p>\n<p>As footage emerged online Thursday of Timmerman, looking disheveled and disoriented as rebels led him out of a family\u2019s home near Damascus, some initially mistook him for Tice.<\/p>\n<p>In the video, Timmerman could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket. A group of men in the video said that he was being treated well and would be safely returned home.<\/p>\n<p>A Syrian family told The Associated Press they found Timmerman barefoot on a main road in the countryside of Damascus early on Thursday. He appeared cold and hungry so they brought him back to their home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI fed him and called a doctor,\u201d said Mosaed al-Rifai, the 68-year-old waste collector who first found Timmerman. <\/p>\n<p>Al-Rifai said it was hard to communicate because of the language barrier but it seemed Timmerman had been held by an internal security agency. A few hours after al-Rifai discovered him, rebels arrived at the family\u2019s house to pick him up, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mouaz Mostafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a U.S.-based nonprofit group, said he met Timmerman at the house and arranged for a car to take him to Damascus, where the new authorities gave the ex-detainee food and water and brought him clothes and shoes. Timmerman had lice in his long, unkempt hair, Mostafa said, and reported walking for 13 miles barefoot before being discovered. <\/p>\n<p>Timmerman \u2014 now recovering until the rebels can figure out how to hand him to U.S. authorities \u2014 was planning to get to Jordan after his release to obtain a new passport, Mostafa said.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, a Missouri State Highway Patrol bulletin identified him as \u201cPete Travis Timmerman,\u201d 29, and said he had gone missing in Hungary in early June. In late August, Hungarian police put out a missing persons announcement for \u201cTravis Pete Timmerman,\u201d saying he was last seen at a church in Hungary\u2019s capital, Budapest.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities in Missouri and Hungary had shared photos of a young man who strongly resembles the ex-prisoner who identified himself as \u201cTravis Timmerman\u201d in interviews with international news outlets on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Missouri court records indicate Timmerman is from Urbana, Missouri, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Springfield in the southwestern part of the state. A graduation list from Missouri State University shows he earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in finance in the spring of 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Timmerman\u2019s mother, Stacey Collins Gardiner, told National Public Radio that he returned home to Urbana after working in Chicago for a couple of years. He then left for Budapest with the goal of writing about his Christian faith and helping people, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Timmerman had warned her, she added, that his travels might make communication difficult. After losing contact with him during his stay in Hungary, Gardiner later learned that her son had gone to Lebanon. <\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, she heard that he was found through the media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will hug him. &#8230; And then I probably won\u2019t let him go,\u201d she said, laughing. \u201cI\u2019ll say, well, thank God you\u2019re still alive. And I\u2019m so happy. Our prayers came true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>U.S. officials said they were working to confirm Timmerman\u2019s identity and provide the support. From Aqaba, Jordan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that the White House was \u201cworking to bring him home, to bring him out of Syria\u201d but declined further comment for privacy reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Timmerman, with a scraggly beard and grey sweatshirt, later spoke with the Al-Arabiya TV network, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago before being detained and held in a cell alone.<\/p>\n<p>He said that he was treated well in detention, but could hear other young men being tortured.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was OK. I was fed. I was watered. The one difficulty was that I couldn\u2019t go to the bathroom when I wanted to,\u201d he said. He said he was only allowed to go three times a day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was not beaten and the guards treated me decently,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Washington\u2019s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, traveled to Lebanon earlier this week in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Tice.<\/p>\n<p>President Joe Biden has said his administration believed Tice was alive and was committed to bringing him home, though he also acknowledged on Sunday that \u201cwe have no direct evidence\u201d of his status. The case has frustrated U.S. intelligence officials for years. <\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Blinken emphasized the administration\u2019s work on Tice\u2019s case. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery single day we are working to find him and to bring him home\u201d Blinken said. \u201cThis is a priority for the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tice, who has had his work published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and others, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus in August 2012 as the Syrian civil war intensified.<\/p>\n<p>A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men. He hasn\u2019t been heard from since. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/biden-middle-east-syria-journalists-bashar-assad-f7e100380b1bc75c3c895858db9edbc5\">Assad\u2019s government had denied<\/a><\/span> that it was holding him.<\/p>\n<h2>___<\/h2>\n<p>Follow the AP\u2019s Syria coverage at <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/syria\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/syria<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>\n  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n              appId : '870613919693099',\n          xfbml : true,\n          version : 'v2.9'\n      });\n  };\n  (function(d, s, id){\n     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n     js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/syria-war-assad-news-12-12-2024-832bd669d118305bd773a26c29893207\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) \u2014 An American citizen who disappeared seven months ago into former Syrian President Bashar Assad\u2019s notorious prison system was suddenly discovered Thursday outside Damascus after being released &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=136468\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}