{"id":44437,"date":"2026-04-08T04:27:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44437"},"modified":"2026-04-08T04:27:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:27:59","slug":"american-journalist-released-after-being-kidnapped-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44437","title":{"rendered":"American Journalist Released After Being Kidnapped in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Shelly Kittleson, an American freelance journalist, who was kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq, by Iran-backed jihadist militia Kata\u2019ib Hezbollah, had been released.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecRubio\/status\/2041676716343509184\">post<\/a> on X, Rubio noted that the Department of State \u201cextends its appreciation\u201d to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of War, as well as the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council for helping to secure Kittleson\u2019s release. Rubio also expressed that \u201cthis resolution reflects the Trump Administration\u2019s steadfast commitment to the safety and security of American citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am pleased to announce the release of American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was recently kidnapped by members of the foreign terrorist organization Kata\u2019ib Hizballah near Baghdad, Iraq,\u201d Rubio shared.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio highlighted how under the Trump administration \u201cthe wrongful detention or kidnapping of U.S. nationals will not be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue to use every tool to bring Americans home and to hold accountable those responsible,\u201d Rubio added.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/t\/assets\/html\/tweet-5.html#2041676716343509184\" data-btlnk=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecRubio\/status\/2041676716343509184\" class=\"bnn-if-tweet\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Rubio\u2019s announcement came a week after the Iraqi Interior Ministry confirmed that a journalist had been abducted, though Kittleson\u2019s identity was not revealed, Breitbart News\u2019s John Hayward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/middle-east\/2026\/04\/01\/american-journalist-kidnapped-baghdad-suspects-linked-iran-backed-militia\/\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"\/>\n<p>Video footage of Kittleson\u2019s abduction shows two men accosting her and forcing \u201cher into a car\u201d:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Iraqi Interior Ministry confirmed that a foreign journalist was abducted on Tuesday, but did not officially reveal the identity of the victim. Two unnamed Iraqi security officials later told the Associated Press (AP) that the victim was a female United States citizen.<\/p>\n<p>Video of the abduction was caught by security cameras and quickly spread across social media. In the video, two men accost the victim on a street corner in central Baghdad and force her into a car, apparently with some difficulty.<\/p>\n<p>The Iraqi security sources who spoke to the Associated Press said the \u201cunknown individuals\u201d made their getaway in two vehicles, one of which crashed during hot pursuit near the town of Al-Haswa, south of Baghdad. The individuals and their victim transferred into another vehicle and eluded their pursuers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In a statement, Kata\u2019ib Hezbollah shared that Kittleson had been released on the condition that she \u201cleave the country immediately,\u201d the Associated Press <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/journalist-kidnapped-iraq-shelly-kittleson-3e1a3a8e96656629abd1152c098e9caf\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo officials\u201d from Kata\u2019ib Hezbollah told the outlet that \u201cin exchange\u201d for Kittleson\u2019s release, members of the militia group that had \u201cbeen detained by Iraqi authorities would be released.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2026\/04\/07\/american-journalist-shelly-kittleson-released-after-being-kidnapped-in-iraq\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Shelly Kittleson, an American freelance journalist, who was kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq, by Iran-backed jihadist militia Kata\u2019ib Hezbollah, had&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}