By Maya Gebeily DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, arrived in Damascus on Saturday to step up the search for her son and said she hopes she can take him home with her.

DAMASCUS, Syria — The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing in Syria since 2012, said Monday during a visit to the Syrian capital that the incoming Trump administration has offered to help uncover long-awaited answers about the fate of her son.

Trump’s “people have already reached out to me. I haven’t experienced that for the last four years,” Debra Tice said. “I have great hope that the Trump administration will sincerely

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice said on Monday she was hopeful that the new administrations in the U.S. and Syria would help her find her missing son, who was taken captive during a reporting trip near Damascus about 12 years ago.

Austin Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was one of the first US journalists to make it into Syria.

Austin Tice, a freelance journalist for outlets including McClatchy, CBS, and The Washington Post, disappeared in Syria on Aug. 14, 2012, shortly after his 31st birthday. He was reportedly stopped at a checkpoint in a Damascus suburb while reporting on Syria’s civil war.

For the first time in a decade, Debra Tice, the mother of missing American journalist, Austin Tice, returns to Syria to find news of her son.

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice says the Trump administration offered support to help find her son, who disappeared in Syria in 2012.