US journalist held in Syria freed after 22 months
WASHINGTON: An American journalist abducted by an al Qaeda affiliate in Syria was released on Sunday after, just a week after James Foley, another journalist, was killed by his captors.
Peter Theo Curtis, 45, spent 22 months in captivity, having gone missing after crossing into Syria in 2012. His release was reportedly negotiated by the Qatari government.
The United Nations said Curtis was handed over to UN peacekeepers in al Rafid village, Golan Heights, and was passed on to the US after a routine health check. Curtis was abducted by Jabhat al-Nusrah, an al Qaeda affiliate, that is fighting with other rebus against Syrian forces loyal to president Bashar al Assad.
T he US has denied any ransom was paid for Curtis’s release, citing its well-known position on the issue. It said Qatar took up the writer’s case on an appeal from his family.
Jabhat al-Nusrah is a rival of the ISIS, which shocked and outraged the world releasing a video last week of the execution of 40-year-old Foley.
“We are so relieved that Theo is healthy and safe and that he is finally headed home after his ordeal,” said his mother Nancy Curtis in a statement from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“But we are also deeply saddened by the terrible, unjustified killing last week of his fellow journalist, Jim Foley, at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS,” she added.
Continuing outrage over Foley’s execution is mounting pressure on President Obama to expand strikes against the ISIS to cover their safe havens in Syria.
Chairman of the joint chief Martin Dempsey said last week the ISIS cannot be defeated without dealing with its positions in Syria, where its leaders run to when attacked.
US continued to strike ISIS in Iraq with its central command launching two airstrikes on the outfit’s positions near Irbil on Sunday, taking up the total of such attacks to 96 since August 8.
Curtis’s return brought some cheer to the country, though tempered by the task at hand. “Just as we celebrate Theo’s freedom, we hold in our thoughts and prayers the Americans who remain in captivity in Syria,” said Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice in a statement.