The 29-year-old said he was detained earlier this year after crossing into Syria on foot from Lebanon and held in prison until the fall of Assad. Timmerman's family called it a "Christmas miracle."

A man freed from a Syrian prison on Thursday after monthslong imprisonment identified himself as Travis Timmerman, an American reported missing by law enforcement earlier this year after traveling to Hungary.

Travis Timmerman, a missing American from Missouri, was freed from a Syrian prison and found Thursday outside of Damascus trying to make his way out of the country on foot. Timmerman was held for seven months after entering Syria illegally,