Apr 20, 2018

The United States is offering a reward of $1 million for information about Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria since 2012.

The FBI announced the reward this week, without any explanation on the timing.

"The timing of this reward is unrelated to any specific event," an FBI spokeswoman said.

Tice, 36, is believed to the only American journalist currently held in Syria, one of the most dangerous countries for the news media in recent years.

A freelance journalist working for McClatchy News, the Washington Post, CBS, AFP and other news organizations, Tice was abducted in August 2012 near Damascus.