Self-Identified American ‘on a Pilgrimage to Damascus’ Found Freed from Assad Prison in Syria
Emin Sansar/Anadolu via Getty
A man emerged from a prison in Syria previously run by the fallen regime of Bashar Assad this week claiming to be American Travis Timmerman, who went missing in Hungary and said he set off on a “pilgrimage” to Damascus.
Timmerman, a 29-year-old from Missouri, spoke to CBS News, NBC News, and several other outlets in videos published on Thursday, explaining that he had been arrested in Syria seven months ago, and that unknown armed men freed him when Assad fled the country and the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) indiscriminately freed those in Assad’s prisons. The reports did not specify which prison Timmerman was in or exactly how long he was imprisoned, but NBC News said he was freed on Monday.
HTS, an al-Qaeda offshoot that waged civil war against Assad for years, launched a surprise attack in late November that resulted in the capture of the nation’s second-largest city, Aleppo, and a march towards Damascus that concluded when Assad fled to Russia, his longtime ally, on Saturday. HTS is led by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, a terrorist who once worked for Islamic State “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. HTS is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and Washington is currently offering a $10 million reward for information leading to Jolani’s arrest as a result of his long career as an al-Qaeda terrorist.
Since the fall of the Assad regime – an Iran ally that the United States government had sanctioned for years in response to its extensive record of human rights atrocities against civilians – Jolani has attempted to rebrand himself as a “pragmatic” politician. Jolani insists his jihadis will not massacre Syrian minorities, but has also stated he will impose an “Islamic” government on all of Syria, home to thousands of Christians as well as other religious and ethnic groups.
HTS reportedly confirmed that it had freed Timmerman on Wednesday, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The American … Travis Timmerman has been released and secured,” an HTS-affiliated account on the encrypted messaging site Telegram asserted. “We confirm our readiness to cooperate directly with the US administration to search for American citizens disappeared by the former Assad regime.”
Timmerman appears to be a civilian who independently decided to travel to Syria for personal reasons. He told reporters that he is a Christian and had “been reading Scripture a lot” when he disappeared in Hungary. The readings convinced him to make “a pilgrimage to Damascus,” an ancient city that plays a major role in the conversion of Saint Paul. Timmerman reportedly walked into Syria illegally and was arrested by border patrol after roaming the border region for three days.
The American was initially misidentified as Austin Tice, a reporter who disappeared after reaching a Damascus checkpoint in 2012 and was believed to have been held in Assad’s prisons since. The administration of President Donald Trump put out a $1 million reward for information on Tice in 2018; he was believed to be the only American imprisoned in Syria until Timmerman’s discovery.
In conversation with reporters Timmerman said he was not aware of who Tice was.
Timmerman described to CBS News the moment he was freed.
“My door was busted down, it woke me up,” Timmerman explained. “I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the warfare could have been more active than it ended up being … Once we got out, there was no resistance, there was no real fighting.”
The American also claimed that his experience in prison “wasn’t too bad,” describing himself as well fed and having access to water.
“The only really bad part was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to. I was only let out three times a day to go to the bathroom,” he said.
Speaking to NBC News, Timmerman said prison was “a time of solace, of meditation and I’m stronger for it,” insisting it was “actually good” for him.
Timmerman said that he had not fully processed the sensation of being free and had been wandering around Syria looking for food and places to stay, relying on the generosity of locals.
“I still haven’t really thought about that. I’ve been more worried about finding a place to sleep each night since then,” he told CBS News about his freedom. “So I’ve been working, really.”
The U.S. government has confirmed it is aware of the reports but has offered no details on what it is doing about Timmerman or the greater situation in question. Having disappeared for months, Washington would presumably have to first verify his identity, then attempt to verify his story, ensuring that he is telling the truth about who he is and was not compromised by any foreign intelligence interests.
The fall of Assad has led to freedom for thousands of prisoners languishing in the Syrian penal system, long believed to be rife with torture. Some of those identified in Syrian prisons this week have been Lebanese Christians arrested decades ago for expressing political opposition to Assad, Iran, or Hezbollah.
Unlike Timmerman, who insisted he was treated well in captivity, most prisoners describe being starved, tortured, and humiliated. The British Sky News agency published a report this week from one of Assad’s most notorious facilities, the Sednaya prison, showcasing harrowing conditions and what appeared to be medieval-style torture devices.
“They had plastic bags full of faeces and urine because people weren’t able to go to the bathroom – if they were allowed to go to a handful of toilets here,” Sky News journalist Yalda Hakim explained. “They were only given a few seconds, so they were relieving themselves and dumping the plastic bags in the corner of the cells.”
Hakim also found evidence of mass hangings and the use of a “crushing machine” to kill prisoners.
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