AnAmericancitizen,who identified himself as the missing Missouri residentTravis Timmerman,was found inSyriaon Thursday (December 12). The man said he had beenimprisonedafter crossing into the country on foot during a Christian pilgrimage seven months ago.
The 29-year-old appears to have been among thousands of people released from the country’s notorious prisons after rebels reached Damascus over the weekend, overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad and ending his family’s 54-year rule, theAssociated Pressreported.
HighlightsAmerican citizen Travis Timmerman found in Syria after 7 months in prison.Timmerman was imprisoned during a Christian pilgrimage crossing into Syria.He was released when rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
Timmerman said two men armed with AK-47 rifles broke his prison door down Monday (December 9) with a hammer.
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American national Travis Timmerman was found in Syria after being imprisoned for 7 months
Image credits:Haber Lütfen
“My door was busted down, it woke me up,” he toldCBS News.
“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.”
Timmerman was detained upon entering Syria without permission seven months ago after spending a month in neighboring Lebanon.
The newly freed American national said he had gone to Syria for Christian “spiritual purposes,” and that his experience in prison “wasn’t too bad.”
Although he stated that he was treated well duringdetention, he could hear other young men being tortured.
“It was OK. I was fed. I was watered. The one difficulty was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to. I was only let out three times a day to go to the bathroom.
“I was not beaten and the guards treated me decently.”
Timmerman addedthat he’d spoken with his family three weeks ago, through a phone he had while in prison, and said he had been allowed to use it.
Timmerman, 29, had crossed into the country from Lebanon during a Christian pilgrimage
Image credits:Hungarian Police
Timmerman was freed after the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime
Image credits:SaadAbedine
Anadolu captures footage in Damascus of missing US 🇺🇸 citizen Travis Pete Timmerman after release from Syria’s notorious ‘Far Falastin’ Prisonhttps://t.co/a5EQoeMACnhttps://t.co/dIf7DHtCTHpic.twitter.com/ebgppUqb4u
— Saad Abedine (@SaadAbedine)December 12, 2024
Timmerman said he left the prison with a large group and started walking away. He had been trying tohead toward Jordan.
He said he “had a few moments of fear” when he left thedetention centerand it took some time for him to processthat he was free.
“I still haven’t really thought about that. I’ve been more worried about finding a place to sleep each night since then. So I’ve been working, really.”
After being freed, he relied on the kindness of strangers, approaching them to ask for a place to sleep at night.“They were coming to me, mostly,” he described.
He added: “I’ve been fed and I’ve been watered, so I’m feeling well.”
According toMissouricourt records, Timmerman is from Urbana, Missouri, about 50miles (80 kilometers) north of Springfield in the southwestern part of the state,APreported.
In a video that emerged online on Thursday, the man could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house.
A group of men in the video said that he was being treated well and would be safely returned home.
A US official toldCBS Newsthat the government was aware of the reports that an American had been found outside Damascus,Syriaand that it was seeking to provide support.
“Bring him home,” an American reader wrote
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