Identifying himself only as "Travis," the man told NBC News Foreign Correspondent Matt Bradley that he was a pilgrim and had been detained after crossing into Syria on foot.

He said he had crossed into Syria from Lebanon on a religious pilgrimage. He appeared in videos circulating online earlier in the day in which rebels said they had located him and were keeping him safe.

American is freed after being detained for seven months in Syria.

A man seen in video that emerged overnight claiming to show a missing American in Syria told NBC News on Thursday that he is a “pilgrim” named Travis from Missouri and not Austin Tice.