Assad regime planned US journalist's kidnapping for weeks, BBC investigation finds

The BBC reports that it has obtained evidence suggesting Austin Tice's kidnapping was premeditated and approved by Assad's government. According to the investigation, the abduction was planned over weeks rather than carried out as a spontaneous act.

Tice, a freelance journalist, went missing in Syria in 2012. The BBC's findings add to long-standing questions about the circumstances of his disappearance and the Syrian government's involvement in his case.