The U.S. military announced on Friday that it had transported an American, who had gone missing seven months ago in the notorious prison system of former president Bashar al-Assad, from Syria to Jordan. He was among thousands of people released this week by rebels.
Travis Timmerman, 29, was flown to Jordan by military helicopter, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity and could not provide details about the ongoing operation.
It is unclear where Timmerman will be relocated next. He thanked those who rescued him but told U.S. officials that he would like to remain in the region, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly.
Timmerman had been arrested after crossing into Syria while on a Christian pilgrimage to a mountain in the Lebanese city of Zahle in June.
In an interview on Friday with the Associated Press, he said he had not been mistreated during his time in the infamous detention facility known as the Palestine Branch, operated by Syrian intelligence.
Timmerman stated that he was released on Monday morning after rebels took control of Damascus and overthrew Assad’s regime, along with a young Syrian man and 70 female prisoners, some of whom were accompanied by children.
He added that he had been kept separate from Syrian and other Arab prisoners and said he was unaware of any other Americans being held in the same facility.
Timmerman is from Urbana, Missouri.
His mother, Stacey Gardiner, said she had been told her son was being sent to a military base in Jordan. The family has not yet spoken with him.
Mouaz Moustafa, a Syrian opposition activist based in the U.S., who worked with the rebels to facilitate Timmerman’s transfer, posted a photo on Twitter of the released American standing next to a man in a U.S. military uniform in the desert of the region.
“He’s safe and sound, back in the hands of the Americans,” Moustafa wrote.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials continue the search for Austin Tice, an American journalist who has been missing for 12 years near Damascus.
