US military flies missing American out of Syria

The U.S. military on Friday flew a missing American citizen out of Syria this week, after the stunning fall of Syrian leader Bashar Assad's regime.

Travis Timmerman was transferred to U.S. forces in Syria on Friday, according to a defense official, and was flown to Jordan.

U.S. Central Command, the military headquarters in the Middle East region, is working with the State Department to ensure Timmerman can safely return home, the official added. He was freed from a prison in the capital city of Damascus earlier this week, a day after Assad's regime collapsed to a coalition of opposition forces.

Timmerman, 29, had last been seen in Budapest, Hungary, in June and had not been seen or heard from in months.

He told The Associated Press he had gone on a Christian pilgrimage to Lebanon and crossed over into Syria, where he was detained and questioned for hours before a transfer to a notorious prison known as Palestine Branch.

When he was first seen this week, Timmerman was confused for Austin Tice, an American freelancer journalist who has been missing since 2012 in Syria.

Timmerman, who is from Urbana, Mo., told NBC News that his imprisonment was good for him and that it was a "a time of solace, of meditation, and I'm stronger for it."

Topics

US military flies American released from Syrian prison to Jordan, officials say

The U.S. military has brought an American who was imprisoned in Syria for seven months out of the country
ABC News - 8m
New information discovered in search for American missing in Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria — Cockroaches crawled out of the walls near a dirty, stained sink in the Syrian prison cell where an ex-prisoner told NBC News that American journalist Austin Tice was once held.
NBC News - 6h
Man claiming to be missing American found in Syria months after going missing

A man identifying himself as Travis Timmerman, a Missouri man who was reported missing earlier this year, has been found in Syria. Timmerman told CBS News that he had been imprisoned for seven ...
CBS News - 23h
Who is Travis Timmerman, the missing American apparently found in Syria

An American man found wandering the streets outside the Syrian capital of Damascus barefoot identified himself as Pete Travis Timmerman on Thursday. Timmerman was last seen in Budapest, Hungary, in ...
The Hill - 1d
Man Found in Syria Appears to Be a Missing American

The man told reporters that his name was Travis Timmerman and that he had entered Syria on a religious pilgrimage. He said that he had been detained for months.
The New York Times - 1d
France flies out 2 Mirage fighter jets from Chad to signal beginning of military withdrawal

The French military says it has flown out the two Mirage fighter jets it had stationed in Chad, signaling the beginning of its withdrawal of military forces from the central African country
ABC News - 3d
France flies its 2 Mirage fighter jets out of Chad, signaling beginning of its military withdrawal from African country

France flies its 2 Mirage fighter jets out of Chad, signaling beginning of its military withdrawal from African country
ABC News - 3d
France flies out 2 Mirage fighter jets from Chad to signal beginning of military withdrawal

Yahoo News - 3d
U.S. Renews Push to Find Missing American Austin Tice in Syria

The collapse of Assad’s regime and the release of thousands of prisoners in the country are stoking new urgency around finding Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago.
The Wall Street Journal - 4d