Missing US citizen found after release from Syria detention centre

Turkish news agency Anadolu reported today that it had captured footage of Travis Pete Timmerman, a US citizen who had been missing for months, after his release from a detention centre in the Syrian capital Damascus.

According to Timmerman, he was released from Palestine Branch (Far Falastin), a detention and torture centre in Damascus, as thousands of detainees were freed after the collapse of the Ba’ath regime on Sunday.

Timmerman told the news agency that he had been captured by Syrian border security forces seven months ago while he was in the mountains between Lebanon and Syria.

He said he had travelled from the US to do the Hajj – pilgrimage to Makkah – made his way to Europe in March, and arrived in Zahle in eastern Lebanon in May before entering Syria.

Police in the southern US state of Missouri had reported that the last contact made with Timmerman was on 2 June. Officials said he was last seen on 28 May at the International Baptist Church in Budapest, Hungary.

Budapest police filed a missing person report for him on 26 August.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today said America is working to get Timmerman out of Syria and bring him home.

READ: Lebanese man returns to his hometown after 33 years in Syria