Abducted American journalist Kittleson released by Iraqi armed group, Rubio says
Iran-backed militia frees Shelly Kittleson with a warning that the move ‘will not be repeated’
The Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah has released abducted US journalist Shelly Kittleson, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday.
Officials from the Pentagon, the FBI and the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council were among the people who assisted in securing Kittleson’s release, Rubio said in a statement. She was abducted in late March in Baghdad.
“We are relieved that this American is now free and are working to support her safe departure from Iraq,” he added.
Kataib Hezbollah had said earlier on Tuesday that it would release Kittleson and that she must immediately leave Iraq. Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, a security official in the Iran-backed group, said that this was an exceptional gesture that would “not be repeated again in the coming days, as we are in a state of war launched by the Zionist-American enemy against Islam, and in such cases many considerations are discarded”.
Her release was announced hours before the United States and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in more than one month of war, which spread into a region-wide conflict.