Travis Timmerman seems to be out the window of a van as he’s taken to be handed over to U.S. forces close to the Syrian border with Iraq and Jordan on Dec. 13.
Manu Brabo for NPR
conceal caption
toggle caption
Manu Brabo for NPR
ALONG THE M2 HIGHWAY in southern Syria — The journey of a younger Missouri man free of a Syrian jail when the regime fell earlier this month started with a wilderness non secular pilgrimage earlier this 12 months and ended on a distant desert freeway. That’s the place he was handed over to U.S. custody on Friday.
A U.S. fighter jet flew overhead because the American man walked with an official from Syria’s interim authorities to satisfy U.S. particular forces positioned in entrance of MRAP armored autos on the abandoned freeway.
The previous lawyer and author is called Pete Timmerman to Missouri authorities who had been looking for him. However he simply calls himself Travis.
Syrian forces with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, safe the world the place Timmerman is transferred to U.S. forces close to the Syrian border with Iraq and Jordan.
Manu Brabo for NPR
conceal caption
toggle caption
Manu Brabo for NPR
A U.S. particular forces operative frisked Timmerman for weapons, after which a commanding officer requested him to substantiate his identification.
Requested for his full title, he stated, “Just Travis.”
Timmerman, 29, confirmed he had been held in detention for seven months and that he had entered Syria from Lebanon.
With that, the officer reached out his hand and stated, “Travis — welcome home.”
After hugging a Syrian American activist, the Syrian official and among the Syrian fighters who had been caring for him, Timmerman was escorted into one of many American armored autos and pushed away.
Timmerman will get out of a van forward of his switch to U.S. forces on the desert freeway on Friday.
Manu Brabo for NPR
conceal caption
toggle caption
Manu Brabo for NPR
Earlier within the day, NPR had accompanied the convoy bringing Timmerman from Damascus to southern Syria, close to a U.S. base not removed from the Jordanian border. Over breakfast earlier than the convoy departed, Timmerman spoke with NPR about his time in jail, his Christian religion — and what drove him to Syria.
Consuming olives, he used one among his lengthy fingernails to fastidiously scrape all of the flesh from the pit, as he did in jail to keep away from losing any of them.
Timmerman stated he didn’t wish to give formal interviews or have his voice recorded as a result of it didn’t match with the non secular modesty he labored to domesticate. He allowed images to be taken. He stated he spent a lot of his time in jail meditating, reaching a non secular readability that he had by no means had.
“My world changed,” he stated.
Deserted Syrian army autos on the street to the placement the place Timmerman was handed over to U.S. forces.
Manu Brabo for NPR
conceal caption
toggle caption
Manu Brabo for NPR
Within the Syrian jail, he stated, he mirrored on his life earlier than his arrest. He had been a lawyer in Chicago, practising household regulation and writing what he described as a coming-of-age novel. He stated he doesn’t plan to publish the novel as a result of he isn’t all in favour of industrial ventures.
“God has since called me to serve him,” he stated.
Timmerman had advised his mom when he left the U.S. that he was going to Hungary. He didn’t wish to fear her. As a substitute, he traveled to Beirut through the Czech Republic and walked throughout the border into Syria with a smuggler. He was arrested after fasting for 3 days within the Syrian mountains, when he went to collect cherries from an orchard and was noticed by a border guard.
Timmerman (middle) walks with Mouaz Moustafa (left) and an interim Syrian authorities official earlier than his handover to U.S. forces in southern Syria on Friday.
Manu Brabo for NPR
conceal caption
toggle caption
Manu Brabo for NPR
He says he’s now a greater individual due to the time he spent in jail.
When NPR contacted Timmerman’s mom, Stacey Collins Gardiner, she stated: “Tell him I love him very, very much and I’ve been crying for him every day. I’ve been a nervous wreck, it’s just been crazy for me.”
After his launch together with different detainees when the regime of Bashar al-Assad fell, Timmerman was discovered strolling barefoot in a Damascus suburb. The household of a Syrian girl who was additionally freed took him to their residence and gave him tea and oranges.
When Mouaz Moustafa, a Syrian American activist, discovered that an American had been discovered, he contacted U.S. officers and introduced Travis to Syria’s international ministry. There Timmerman had his first bathe in seven months. Overseas ministry employees purchased him trainers and new garments.
Free Syrian Military members escort the convoy taking Timmerman to be handed over to U.S. forces on Friday.
Manu Brabo for NPR
conceal caption
toggle caption
Manu Brabo for NPR
“The new government in Damascus is acting in good faith,” stated Moustafa, director of the Syrian Emergency Process Pressure. “But this illustrates the importance that there need to be official delegations to Damascus.”
The U.S. has no direct diplomatic presence in Syria. Moustafa stated he is aware of of a minimum of six different Individuals lacking in Syria. He believes that others, not imprisoned, have by no means been formally reported as lacking.
“No one knew that Travis was in Syria when he went missing,” he stated.
Invoice Chappell contributed to this story from Washington, D.C.
