_News_ | *From Beirut, ex-Syrian commander Bassam al-Hassan reveals:* *Austin Tice was killed in 2013 on al-Assad’s orders*👇 The Washington Post and New York Times revealed that Bassam al-Hassan, a former general in the ousted Syrian regime, informed CIA and FBI investigators that kidnapped American journalist Austin Tice was killed in 2013 on the orders of Bashar al-Assad. Hassan gave descriptions of the locations where Tice’s remains could be found, and US search teams are trying to reach those locations to search for them. The two newspapers revealed that al-Hassan was interviewed in Beirut by the FBI and the CIA over several days in April. According to The New York Times, sources familiar with the case said al-Hassan had arrived in Lebanon from Iran, where he had taken refuge after the regime’s collapse, and interacted with US and Lebanese officials without coercion. He was not detained; on the contrary, he is reportedly living freely “in an upscale neighborhood of Beirut, going out to dinner with his wife and seeking medical care for an illness.” Bassam al-Hassan served as the head of the military and security office at the Syrian presidential palace and was chief of staff of the National Defense Forces militia. Before that, he oversaw Unit 450 of the Scientific Studies and Research Center, which coordinated logistics for chemical weapons. According to the Syrian platform Pro-justice, al-Hassan is implicated in several crimes against the Syrian people—most notably the chemical attacks carried out by the ousted regime, as well as massacres committed by the militia in Homs, Hama, Daraa and other areas. Al-Hassan’s name had previously surfaced in investigations into the kidnapping of Austin Tice. A former Syrian regime officer revealed that Tice was held by al-Hassan in 2012, who assigned him to interrogate Tice and arranged the filming of the video that showed Tice that same year.