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Article snippet: The parents of Austin Tice, the journalist and former Marine from Texas who was abducted in Syria in August 2012, said on Wednesday that they had reason to believe that their son was alive. “We wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you if we didn’t — weren’t completely positive that Austin’s going to come home safely,” his father, Marc Tice, told Lester Holt in an interview on “NBC Nightly News.” Debra Tice and her husband, who also spoke with Matt Lauer on “Today” on Wednesday morning, confirmed that the United States government had shared with them why it thought he was alive, but they would not elaborate on the reasons. “We need to keep their confidence, so that we can keep working well together as a team,” Ms. Tice told Mr. Lauer. The Trump administration began searching early this year for ways to free Mr. Tice, even setting up a back channel with Syria. “We are absolutely gratified at the engagement we’ve had with this new administration,” Ms. Tice told Mr. Holt. “How quickly they’ve become aware and engaged and advocating for Austin’s safe return.” The Syrian government insists it does not know what happened to Mr. Tice or where he is. And his parents said that they had seen no proof that he was alive, they told Mr. Holt, aside from a YouTube video that was posted one month after Mr. Tice disappeared. In the video, titled “Austin Tice Still Alive,” he appears blindfolded and disheveled, and is surrounded by masked men with rifles. He utters part of an Arabic... Link to the full article to read more