President Biden and the family of Austin Ticephv88, an American journalist who disappeared in Syria in 2012, said on Sunday that they believe that he is alive and could be returned to the United States after rebels groups toppled the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking at the White House, Mr. Biden said, “We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet.”

Mr. Tice disappeared outside Damascus, the Syrian capital, as the country descended into civil war.

“We are urging everyone on the ground to help us in this unique and singular moment to look for Austin and to help us bring him home,” Austin’s younger brother, Jacob Tice, told The New York Times. “What we do know is that he is alive and he is in Syria.”

The United States has said it believed Mr. Tice had been held captive by the government of Mr. al-Assad. The Assad regime had long maintained that it was not holding Mr. Tice and had no information about him.

The Biden administration has “engaged extensively” to try to bring Mr. Tice back to the United States, including by directly contacting Syrian officials and working through third parties, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

However, the official said the Syrian government, which had been under the leadership of Mr. al-Assad until his downfall on Sunday, had not agreed to discuss Mr. Tice’s case.

Mr. Biden said on Sunday that officials believed Mr. Tice was alive, but when asked about a potential rescue operation, he said that the United States must first “identify where he is.”

Mr. Tice, who was freelancing for The Washington Post as well as McClatchy and other outlets when he was abductedphv88, had been in Syria for months, embedding with and writing about opposition rebels.

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