A man identifying himself as an American from Missouri, Travis Timmerman, was found in Syria on Thursday after he said he was released from a prison earlier in the week as the longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power by a shock offensive by the rebels.
Timmerman told CBS News Senior Foreign Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer that he attempted to leave the country on his own after getting out of the prison where he had been held for more than six months. He said he was arrested when he entered Syria without authorization seven months ago, after spending a month in neighboring Lebanon.
A U.S. official told CBS News the government was aware of reports that an American had been found outside Damascus and was seeking to provide support, but the official declined to provide further details out of respect for his privacy.
CBS News/Agnès Reau
Timmerman said two men armed with AK-47s broke down his prison door Monday with a hammer.
“My door was kicked in, that woke me up,” Timmerman said. “I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the war might have been more active than it ended up being… Once we got out, there was no resistance, there was no resistance. There were no real fights.”
Timmerman said he went to Syria for a Christian “spiritual purpose” and that his prison experience “wasn’t too bad.”
“I was never beaten. The only problem was that I couldn’t go to the toilet whenever I wanted. They only let me out three times a day to go to the toilet,” he said. declared.
Timmerman said he left the prison with a large group and began walking away. He said he tried to head to Jordan.
He said he “had a few moments of fear” when he left prison and didn’t really understand he was free.
“I still haven’t really thought about it. Since then, I’ve been more worried about finding a place to sleep every night,” he told CBS News. “So I really worked.”
Timmerman said he wasn’t afraid to approach people for help or a place to sleep at night during his trip.
“They were mostly coming to me,” Timmerman said, adding that he spoke with his family three weeks ago, via a phone he had in prison. He said he was allowed to use it.
“I feel good. I’ve been fed and watered, so I feel good,” Timmerman said.
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contributed to this report.
