Where is Austin Tice?: The video

0:00This message comes from DonorsChoose. This back-to-school season put books, science kits, and more into kids' backpacks. Because when students have what they need, they're ready to succeed. Donate today and have your gift matched at DonorsChoose.org slash local. This episode includes some explicit language. Six weeks after Austin's disappearance in Syria, a video emerges online and it makes international headlines. There is a new development this morning in the disappearance of Austin Tice. A disturbing video clip appeared Monday on the online video clip showing him alive and held by gunmen. Men who appear to be Islamist militants are shown leading Tice up a rocky hill, but it's not clear where...

0:46How did you find out about the video? You know how you kind of just wake up and say something here is not quite right? And I walk downstairs and Mark is on the sofa. but white as a ghost. What is it? I don't want to tell you. I said, no. If you could see yourself, you would know that you need to tell me. It had actually been on YouTube for several days, I think. Maybe even a week. After speaking to her husband, Mark, Austin's mother, Deborah, watches the video. It's grainy, poorly filmed, shaky, and just 46 seconds long. Three cars move along a dirt track against the backdrop of a remote mountainside.

1:36The last vehicle has its boot open and there's a man inside.

1:46Men wearing scarves known as kafirs clutch rifles. They're shoving a man in a ripped green shirt. Then his face comes into frame. It's Austin. He's blindfolded, hands-bound. He attempts to recite a prayer in broken Arabic.

2:09Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus.

2:15Then the video cuts. Austin looks like he's suffering. For his mum, Deborah, the video is the only proof that she's had that Austin is alive since his abduction. It must have been incredibly difficult to watch that. I mean, I've watched it and I find it hard. Well, I mean, for me, I wanted to know everything about it. You know, it was clipped and put together. And the fact that they left in, oh Jesus, oh Jesus, I felt like that was very much a message to his mom. And that video had all the information we needed to get Austin. The video appears to show Austin held by some kind of extremist group.

3:03But we've confirmed that Austin was held by the Syrian regime. So the video doesn't add up, because he was in regime custody. Deborah has always believed the video contains clues about where Austin is And she might be right It just depends on what you choose to see When I'm watching this video I see kind of the same things everyone else sees The horror of this guy who's bound and blindfolded being dragged up this mountainside But I also see clues about where it was filmed, when it was filmed. This is Thomas Baldo. He's an investigative journalist who specializes in open source intelligence. That means he pieces together fragments of publicly available data to get answers.

3:57He sees details that others don't. When this video came out in 2012, journalists applied the best tactics they had at a time to analyze it. But we have new tactics since, and applying those, we can find new things. By stabilizing it and combining all the frames from the shot, we can get a lot of actually really identifiable features. So there's 25 frames in every second of video, 25 individual pictures. You've basically slowed down and analyzed each individual frame. Exactly. You get a clearer view of a mountain range, a road curving around some vegetation, this plowed field. And we know it was filmed about midday from the length of the shadows.

4:49They filmed this video in a kind of terrain that's only really found in about 20 square miles of Syria. Are you serious? Yeah. There's specific arrangements of trees. There's angles of roads and the way they curb. And even when we get down to it, there's specific rocks. Are you serious? You can match rocks? Yeah. Thomas doesn't think the video was filmed in an area controlled by anti-government forces. But he can't be completely sure. And other details don't add up for me either. The men in the video can't be identified, no badges, no insignia, nothing linking them to a specific group. And the video is posted on a new YouTube channel, not one belonging to any known faction.

5:42I've watched countless hours of footage from the Syrian war and other conflicts and spent time with rebel groups. Usually, when they make a hostage video, they want the world to know they have the prisoner, they want that publicity. But in Austin's case, nobody claims him. And that's unusual. It's this incredible piece of media because it's the last time we know Austin Tice is alive with visual evidence. Right. Someone made this video with the intention of it misleading. And to get to the actual truth in the video, you have to work past all of that. For years, people have questioned whether the video was staged.

6:30Now, Thomas' analysis suggests it was filmed at two different locations in regime-controlled areas. He gives me the GPS coordinates because I want to see if he's right and what these places can tell us about the video. I pack my bags, do a 56-page risk assessment and then head back to Syria.

7:11I've just fallen off a motorbike. I've persuaded a group of soldiers at a nearby base to lend it to me. Because the weather is so bad, cars can't get here right now. Now I'm alone, riding through the mountains between Lebanon and Syria, and it's getting dark. Ohoy! Sliding around. OK, where am I now? Apart from being in a super remote area with absolutely nobody coming to get me if I fuck this up. It's so close. Down this path I'm where. I'm trying to reach the first location Thomas has given me, But it's not easy. The ground is wet and the path that's so clear on my map is barely visible in real life because it's so overgrown.

8:01Oh my God, that's steep. Oh my God, this is the valley. This is the valley. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Wow. Looking for that big rock. Where is it? It's back there. It's there. Right there. This is the spot where Austin is going oh god and is absolutely terrified. Austin was right here and it is the middle of nowhere. There's nothing around. The coordinates are ever so slightly out. Only slightly though. Oh my god on the map. I'm actually in Lebanon. I'm not in Syria anymore across the border. Why would they bring him into Lebanon?

9:02Whoever made the video went to extraordinary lengths to bring Austin here. If I had to guess, maybe they chose this spot because the terrain looks similar to Idlib province, a rebel stronghold, or because they hoped this site would never be found. I don't know. But now I want to see what the second location can tell me. I regroup with my colleague Sarah. And the next day we head there. Still hiking these mountains. We've probably got another two kilometres to go, we think, at least. How would you rate this amongst your journalistic experiences? Right now I hate journalism. Getting to the next location is far from easy.

9:49It involves a multi-hour hike. And at one point, we split up to try and check the area more quickly.

9:59I take a horse ride with some Bedouin shepherds. But it's not the location we're looking for. So I double back to Sara. Then we hike some more until we enter a valley with a long dirt track. Just like in the video of Austin. Whoa. yeah that's really similar so this is definitely where the video was filmed because look over there you've got the position where the camera was you've got the track that the trucks drove down with austin in the back and then you've got the tree that's very prominent in the video just there and the slopes of the valleys match as well ha look at that there's a military bunker right there right on the opposite side whoa that's why they put the camera this side this is why they're shooting this way.

10:47That makes sense. Because if they film to the left, they're filming a Syrian military position. Uh-huh. Yeah, which means that they would have been on regime territory. The terrain matches perfectly to what we can see in Austin's YouTube video. This is the second site where Austin was filmed. Thomas was right. This means there's no way Austin was taken by rebel fighters as the video tries to suggest. Because back in 2012, this whole area was controlled by Assad regime forces. But that raises bigger questions. What was the regime trying to do by making this? Why put Austin Tice in this video? I'm Josh Baker, and from BBC Radio 4 and NPR's Embedded, This is Where is Austin Tice?

11:45Series 3 of I'm Not a Monster Presents Episode 5 The Video

12:11Sometimes feeling better starts exactly like that. Better isn't one size fits all. Better is personal. It's therapy tailored to the individual to help lighten what you carry. Match with a therapist who truly understands. Visit BetterHelp.com slash NPR. This message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at mintmobile.com slash switch. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. This week on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, we talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Hernan Diaz about how he's used the same fountain pen for the last 30 years.

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13:21To work out who made the video and why, I go back to the recording that we were sent while investigating Austin's driver, the man who abducted him. In that recording, a Syrian regime commander named someone, he says, who was involved in making Austin's video, but doesn't say much more.

13:45Luna al-Shibbal. She is a well-known Syrian regime figure who worked inside Assad's media operation. That catches my attention, because if the Austin video was staged to send a message, then someone had to shape that message. We need to find out more about Luna.

14:16Ah! Mahaba! Kifik! Shall I take my shoes off? Please. Of course. After a few weeks and a lot of cups of tea, we find somebody who's willing to talk, but she's nervous. And you don't want me to use your name? No. Can you explain why? They're still targeting those people who are still against them. So I received a lot of threatens. You received threats? Yeah, that's why I don't talk to anyone. I used to comment a lot, write a lot, be active in public issues. But after I received some threatens from both sides, from HGS and from the Flul, I stepped back. I have small kids. And you see here, you know, the guns and weapons, it's all over.

15:09It must be quite scary to contend with that. It is scary. It is. It's no joke. Luna's friend used to work for President Assad's wife, Asma. Now she's one of the many people labelled the Lul, an Arabic word meaning the remnants of a defeated army. In today's Syria, it's used more broadly. for anyone seen as loyal to the old regime. And that label has left her exposed. The new authorities don't trust her. And she says figures from the old regime have warned her to stay quiet because she knows some of their secrets, including secrets about her friend Luna. Who is Luna Schiebel? She's a very ambitious young lady who was raised here in Damascus.

16:03She has a very strong personality, charming personality. She's beautiful. She's ambitious. And she gives you a lot of, you know, she's very compassionate. She was a star. She was a star there.

16:27Back in 2010, Luna was a well-known anchor for the TV news channel Al Jazeera Arabic. In one report I've seen, she stands in a newsroom in a bright pink blazer. She's got dark shoulder-length hair. Blue eye shadow sits beneath thin-shaped eyebrows. She captivates your attention. What she told me is that when she was in Al Jazeera, she was in contact with Bashar al-Assad. With the president? Yes, but undercover. And she used to come to Syria, and secretly she used to go and meet him. She said this over a dinner once. She used to give information and data she gets from Al Jazeera to Al-Assad. She was spying?

17:19She was spying for the benefit of Al-Assad. So she was essentially using her position as a journalist at Al Jazeera where you get lots of information from rebel groups to give it to the regime. Yeah, yeah. And also trying to make Assad look better. Yes, yes. We don't know if this is true, but Luna leaves that job and takes up a position at Syria's state broadcaster. Luna Shibble came back to Damascus. She was all over the Syrian TV, all over. When she comes up in the TV, she stays for like three and four hours. I remember I went out with my friends for like three hours, sitting in one restaurant, and the TV was full of Luna.

18:05It was only Luna on the TV. So she was starting to get a lot of influence then? Yes, yes, a lot of influence Luna becomes a mouthpiece for the Syrian regime's propaganda At a time when Assad is desperate to improve how he's seen by the world To restore his public image to what it had been when he first came to power When many believed he might be a fresh start for Syria We have news from the Middle East today The president of Syria has died at the age of 69. This morning, the ruling Ba 'ath party nominated Assad's 34-year-old son Bashar to succeed his father as head of state. When his father, Hafez al-Assad, died in the summer of 2000, arrangements were made for Bashar to take over the presidency.

18:53The constitution was changed so that the head of state no longer had to be 40, but 34, which, as chance would have it, was Bashar al-Assad's age at the time. Bashar al-Assad was never meant to rule Syria. He was an eye doctor in London, a shy, almost geeky figure, I'm told. But when his older brother died in a car crash, it put Bashar in line for the presidency. A whole Syrian generation has known no other leader and they're bound to be nervous about the future. Bashar became president and married Asma, a Syrian woman raised in London. She gave interviews about him. I know the man behind the presidency.

19:33I know the father he is to his children and I know the husband that he is to me. And more importantly, I know that he's a man who cares. In many ways, Bashar was an outsider in his own country. And when faced with the complexity of running Syria, he fell back on the tools of his father. Control, imprisonment and torture. In 2011, Assad's forces opened fire and murdered protesters, and a revolution was born. This uprising has given way to a brutal civil war. 17 months into this conflict... Soon after, Assad tried to explain the situation in an interview with Barbara Walters for ABC. Our view is there were peaceful protesters.

20:21They were killed. Some were tortured. It was a brutal reaction. Every single, every brutal reaction was by individual, not by institution. And that's what I call, what I describe as individual mistakes. But not by your command? No, no, no. We don't have, no one's command. There was no command to kill or to be brutal. Assad looks evasive, uncertain, nothing like the strong, confident leader he wants the world to believe he is. His reputation is collapsing. Not long after this interview, Austin Tice arrives in Syria to pursue his dream of becoming a war reporter. And Luna al-Shibbel is now head of the presidential media office, working to try and clean up Assad's image.

21:20She was controlling a lot of Facebook pages, a lot, and hundreds, fake accounts. So Luna starts making propaganda for the Assad family. What kind of propaganda is she making? The rebels, they are terrorists. They are backed up from the Americans, from the West, from the Israelis. So she's essentially trying to create material that shows the Syrian people that, hey, these rebels, they're not rebels, they're terrorists, they pose a threat. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Basically giving Assad like a contemporary media strategy. Yeah. All his interviews, all his videos, everything on TV regarding Assad, Luna was behind it.

22:12Every single thing. This media operation was essential for the regime. Many in Syria, and a lot of people around the world too, supported the rebels. So the regime set out to recast them as dangerous terrorists. They fabricated stories, blamed rebels for things like sexual assault and faked military victories, all to make the opposition look weak. At the same time, they presented President Assad as the only man who could save Syria from extremists. Luna's job was to defend Assad at all costs. She knew that the president will do whatever she wants. Really? Yes. The priority now is for media. Your war is media.

23:01Your war is social media. So whatever you do, I have to know about it. And he gave her the power. He trusted her in everything. Luna was there in every single step, in every single step. Security, government, public issues, media, social media, public diplomacy, image. Whatever they say, she has to know and she has to approve. President Assad was basically being influenced, in your view, by Luna. He was listening to her. Big time. Big time. This message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at mintmobile.com slash switch.

23:55Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Hey, what's your problem? No, seriously. Are your grocery bills too high? Are you spending too much time on your phone? Maybe you're searching for a new job or you're trying to figure out how to set boundaries with your family. Whatever's on your mind, Life Kit has you covered with three episodes every week on health, money, mental health, and so much more. Listen to the Life Kit podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi there, I'm Brittany Luce. And not to brag, but I host a really fabulous podcast. It's called It's Been a Minute.

24:30I love making it and I think you'll love listening to it. Over the last year, hundreds of thousands of listeners have been tuning in. And I gotta say, if you haven't yet, you are missing out. Listen to the It's Been a Minute podcast from NPR today. What she says about Luna's power is echoed by others I've spoken to. Luna became one of the few people Assad trusted to protect and shape the regime's image. She was on the front line of his media war.

25:03Mobile phone videos of Luna and Assad later leaked online. In one, she giggles beside him as they drive through a damaged Damascus suburb, an area where his forces committed atrocities, including chemical weapons attacks. As they pass by the people who live there, Assad mocks them for being backward and ignorant.

25:30When I watch it, it's clear the two of them are close.

25:39She had an affair with Bashar. So she knows everything. The pillow talk, you know? She knows everything. How do you know they were having an affair? People in the palace, they know. Even the people who clean the palace, they know. They know. because he used to have an affair not only with Luna with other ladies also he was a freak he was abnormal in his sexual relationships he used to have one of his friends he's a plastic surgeon he used to go to the gym picture the ladies show him the pictures and he can select send me this, send me this, send me that and they can't say no they go but that's I can't say names It's the Assad family.

26:27Assad can do whatever he wants. No one's above him. So Assad had absolute power then. He could do whatever he wanted. Of course. I just want to step back for a moment. We know the Austin Tice video was faked. Would Assad have trusted her to make that video? Allah. She was responsible. The idea that Luna was responsible for the Austin Tice video is a big claim. I want to know why she believes this. Luna's friend tells me about a time in 2024 when the two of them were sitting by Luna's pool. Luna's brother had gone missing and she was frantic. She was desperate, taking pills. I was there, kids were playing swimming together.