Recovery of journalist Austin Tice top priority in Syria, White House says

Former US marine was abducted in August 2012 while reporting on uprising against Bashar al-Assad

The White House is declaring the recovery of the American journalist Austin Tice a top priority" in the wake of Syrian rebels running the autocratic head of state out of the country, according to national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan told ABC's Good Morning America on Monday that the US government was actively seeking information about Tice's whereabouts, communicating through Turkish intermediaries and with contacts on the ground in Syria about the journalist who has been missing for over 12 years.