The mother of American journalist Austin Tice has made her first visit to Syria in almost a decade and says that the administration of President-elect Donald Trump had offered support to help find her son.

Debra Tice's visit comes in the wake of the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in a lighting rebel offensive last month. Her son, a freelance journalist who is now 43, was taken cap

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice said on Monday she was hopeful that the new administrations in the U.S. and Syria would help her find her missing son, who was taken captive during a reporting trip near Damascus about 12 years ago.

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, arrived in Damascus to step up the search for her son and said she hopes she can take him home with her.

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice said Monday that the incoming Trump administration has offered its support in finding her son, who went missing in Syria in 2012.

Austin Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was one of the first US journalists to make it into Syria.

Austin Tice, a freelance journalist for outlets including McClatchy, CBS, and The Washington Post, disappeared in Syria on Aug. 14, 2012, shortly after his 31st birthday. He was reportedly stopped at a checkpoint in a Damascus suburb while reporting on Syria’s civil war.

The mother of US journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, said on Monday in Damascus that the war-torn country's new leadership was committed to finding him.Tice was working as a freelance journalist for Agence France-Presse,