Austin B. Tice, a freelance journalist from the U.S. city of Houston, has since mid August been missing in war-torn Syria, local media reported on Friday.

According to reports on the website of local English daily The Houston Chronicle, the family of Tice has not heard from him since his birthday nearly two weeks ago, and is now concerned about his whereabouts.

"We understand Austin's passion to report on the struggle in Syria, and are proud of the work he is doing there," Tice's parents said in a statement. "We trust that he is safe, appreciate every effort being made to locate him, and look forward to hearing from him very soon."

Tice, 31, was a Georgetown University law student who recently has been writing stories from Syria for a number of publications and news outlets, which include McClatchy's news service, the Washington Post and CBS News.

McClatchy, which is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California, said on Friday that Tice' s disappearance after August 11 did not raise immediate attention as he had told editors he was about to leave on a journey to the border with Lebanon, a trip that can take days because of fighting in the area.

Anders Gyllenhaal, McClatchy vice president for news said in a statement on Friday that journalists like Austin from all over the world risk their lives every day to cover the news in Syria, and his reporting on the events in Syria has been particularly powerful and revealing - and a reminder of why this work is so vital.

As a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, Tice stayed in Iraq and Afghanistan. He left the U.S. Marine Corps in 2011 after six years, and entered Syria this summer.

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