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Agence France-Presse

An Italian hostage was on his way home after more than two years in captivity in Syria, where an unknown number of foreigners remain missing eight years into the country’s devastating war.
Alessandro Sandrini, 32, disappeared in October 2016 after going on holiday to Turkey.
His hair buzzed short and salt-and-pepper beard neatly trimmed, he appeared at a press conference in the northern Syrian border town of Bab al-Hawa on Wednesday ahead of his announced crossing over to Turkey.
After speaking to journalists, he got into a car to be driven across the border.
A representative of the jihadist-linked authorities in northwest Syria said the Italian had been held captive by an unnamed “group carrying out kidnappings”.
They got in touch with the kidnappers through “informants” and negotiated until “the hostage was released”, said Ahmed Latuff of the so-called Salvation Government.
“We immediately contacted the concerned parties to repatriate him,” said the representative from the civilian branch of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate.
Sitting quietly behind a table at the press conference, Sandrini recounted being abducted in the Turkish town of Adana.
“I lost my way to the hotel and found myself walking around the streets of Adana,” he told journalists in Italian, wearing a stripy brown shirt.
Suddenly, “I felt someone putting something on my face. I felt drugged and I fell asleep. I woke up in a room where there were two people who were armed and hooded.”

Sandrini’s father was elated at news of his son’s release.
“I am more than happy, it is the end of a nightmare,” Gianfranco Sandrini said.
News of Sandrini’s kidnapping only surfaced in the Italian press in August last year, saying he had been seized in October 2016 while on holiday in Turkey.
Freed Japanese journalist recalls harrowing ordeal as hostage in Syria but many say it’s his own fault for getting kidnapped
His mother broke the news blackout after receiving phone calls from her son.
In August last year, he appeared in a video pleading for help with masked gunmen standing behind him.
The video did not identify which group was holding him or include specific demands.
Rome prosecutors have opened an investigation into his kidnapping.
Media reports say it is expected that when he returns to his hometown of Brescia, in the north, he will be confined to his residence because he is implicated in two criminal cases.
He faces one arrest warrant for handling stolen goods and another for a burglary in 2016 before he left for Turkey.
Sandrini is the second Italian to be released in Syria this year after businessman Sergio Zanotti last month.
The Salvation Government has previously publicised other foreigners leaving Syria after their alleged intervention.
Those freed late last year include a 54-year-old Argentinian woman who was lured into Syria on a marriage promise, and a four-year-old girl who was handed over to her Belgian mother after her father died.
Dozens of foreigners have been held hostage during Syria’s eight-year civil war, including by the Islamic State jihadist group.
Syria’s war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Syrian conflict

Holiday hostage nightmare ends for Italian Alessandro Sandrini, held by kidnappers in Syria for almost three years

Alessandro Sandrini: ‘I woke up in a room where there were two people who were armed and hooded’. Photo: AFP

This video image released on July 31, 2018, and provided courtesy of SITE Intelligence Group shows Italian national, Alessandro Sandrini, appealing for his release as two armed men stand behind him at an unknown location in Syria on the date of July 19, 2018 according to SITE. - A jihadist group has released videos of a Japanese journalist and an Italian man held captive in Syria in which they appeal for their release, US-based monitors said on july 31, 2018. The two men -- Japanese freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda and Italian national Alessandro Sandrini -- appear in two separate videos that are nonetheless similar in their staging and were released by the SITE group, which tracks white supremacist and jihadist organizations. (Photo by - / SITE INTELLIGENCE GROUP / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / SITE Intelligence Group " - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Freed Japanese journalist recalls harrowing ordeal as hostage in Syria but many say it’s his own fault for getting kidnapped

Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who was held hostage by Islamist militants for 40 months. Photo: Kyodo

In this handout photograph made availabe by Myu Yasuda via Jiji Press on October 25, 2018, Japanese freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda (front R), who was kidnapped in Syria three years ago, poses with his wife Myu (front L) and his parents, Sachiko (back L) and Hideaki (back R) upon his arrival at Narita Airport, in Chiba Prefecture. - A Japanese journalist who was held in Syria for more than three years before being freed this week has described his lengthy captivity as "hell." (Photo by Handout / JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT / -- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS / COURTESY OF MYU YASUDA" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

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Alessandro Sandrini flew to Turkey in October 2016 for a holiday but soon disappeared
His captors released two subsequent videos, including one posted on the internet last July, showing him dressed in an orange jumpsuit


Alessandro Sandrini disappeared in October 2016 after going on holiday to Turkey. In August last year, he appeared in a video pleading for help with masked gunmen standing behind him.


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