In the early days of 2013, an American man, dressed in ragged clothing, dodged between houses in the streets of Damascus’ upscale Mazzeh neighborhood looking for a civilian to take him to safety after more than five months of captivity in the concrete cells of a local prison.

U.S. officials say that, for now, it is too dangerous to deploy personnel to look for Austin Tice, who was abducted near Damascus 12 years ago.

Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, told Fox News Digital he and six members of his team arrived in Damascus to look for Americans kidnapped or held captive by the ousted Assad regime.