Assad regime planned US journalist Austin Tice's kidnap for weeks, BBC finds

Image source, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Image caption, Austin Tice filed high-profile news reports during the Syrian civil war

US journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, was kidnapped in a calculated operation which was more than a month in the planning, the BBC can reveal.

A member of the group which detained Tice has also claimed the abduction was sanctioned by Syria's leader at the time, President Bashar al-Assad.

Tice was seen getting into a car with a driver he knew and trusted. For years, many assumed they had stumbled upon a government checkpoint, and that the abduction of the journalist had been opportunistic.

But we have uncovered evidence that, in fact, his disappearance was anything but chance.