US citizen found in Syria identified as Travis Timmerman
'I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the warfare could have been more active than it ended up being…once we got out, there was no resistance, there was no real fighting'
An American found in Syria's capital, Damascus, after being released from regime prison, was identified as Missouri native Travis Timmerman on Thursday.
Timmerman reportedly entered Syria on a religious pilgrimage, coming in from Lebanon. He told Al-Arabiya news that he had been held in an isolated cell in a prison south of Damascus. While he denied being beaten, he said that he heard torturing going on in cells close to him during his time in the prison.
He told CBS News that he was freed by two men with hammers breaking down his cell on Monday.
"I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the warfare could have been more active than it ended up being…once we got out, there was no resistance, there was no real fighting," he said.
His identity was the subject of much speculation after early rumors said that US journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing for 12 years.