American Travis Timmerman, who claims to have reached Syria on foot on a Christian pilgrimage, would be among the thousands freed after the fall of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
An American who appeared in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country on foot on a Christian pilgrimage seven months ago.
Travis Timmerman appears to have been among the thousands of people freed from the country's notorious prisons after rebels descended on Damascus over the weekend, toppling President Bashar al-Assad and ending his family's 54-year rule.
When videos of Timmerman emerged online Thursday, some first confused him with Austin Tice, an American journalist who disappeared in Syria 12 years ago.
In the video, Timmerman could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private home. A group of men in the video said they were treating him well and that he would return home safely.
There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Aqaba, Jordan.
Timmerman also gave an interview to the Al-Arabiya television network, saying he crossed into Syria illegally on foot from Zahle, in eastern Lebanon, seven months ago, before being detained.
He said he was treated well during detention but could hear other young men being tortured.
“It was fine. They fed me. They gave me water. The only difficulty was that I couldn't go to the bathroom when I wanted to,” he said. He added that he was only allowed to go three times a day.
“I was not beaten and the guards treated me decently,” he added.
The US government's top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, traveled to Lebanon earlier this week hoping to gather information on Tice's whereabouts.
President Joe Biden has said his administration believes Tice is alive and is committed to returning him home, although he also acknowledged Sunday that “we have no direct evidence” of his status.
Tice, whose work has been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and others, disappeared at a checkpoint in a disputed area west of Damascus in August 2012 as the Syrian civil war escalated.
A video released weeks after Tice disappeared showed him blindfolded and held down by armed men. He has not been heard from since then. Assad's government denied it was holding him.