American journalist Shelly Kittleson, kidnapped in Iraq by a pro-Iran terrorist group, is released

Rubio thanked the War Department and the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council for “helping secure the release.”

The head of US diplomacy confirmed that Kittleson had been detained by the terrorist organization Kataib Hezbollah, on March 31 when he was traveling through the streets of the Iraqi capital.

Before Rubio’s announcement, the spokesman and head of security for the terrorist group, Abu Mujahid al-Aasaf, said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel that “in recognition of the patriotic stance of the outgoing prime minister (Mohamed Shia al Sudani), we have decided to release the American accused, Shelly Kittleson, on the condition that leave the country immediately.”

Furthermore, he warned that this “initiative will not be repeated in the coming days,” given that they are currently in a “state of war waged by the American-Zionist enemy against Islam.”

Kataib Hezbollah is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (FMP), an umbrella group that operates under the Iraqi government but maintains strong ties to Iran and is considered a one of the most powerful militias in Iraq.

This group already kidnapped the Russian-Israeli researcher in 2023 Elizabeth Tsurkovfrom Princeton University, which was held for more than two years.

Kittleson, who lives in Italy, is an experienced journalist freelance who has worked in several conflict zones, such as Afghanistan and Syria, and worked for media such as the Italian agency ANSA and the American digital newspaper Al Monitor.

A journalist friend of Kittleson told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that she She was staying alone in a modest hotel in the Saadoun area and that they met approximately one hour before his kidnapping, on March 31.

According to The New York TimesKittleson was kidnapped on a busy street in central Baghdad. Her captors took her away in a car that was hit on a suburban road by security forces. Although the vehicle overturnedthe kidnappers managed to take the reporter in another car that was participating in the kidnapping, managing to escape.

Iraq accounts for 10% of the 90 missing journalists around the world, and before Kittleson’s kidnapping, two foreign journalists and seven Iraqis were missing in the country, all of them confirmed or suspected of having been kidnapped.

The last American journalist to be kidnapped was Steven Sotloff, who was captured in Syria in 2013 and killed in 2014, according to CPJ.