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American freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson was abducted by unidentified individuals in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on March 31, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
In a statement addressing the incident, the ministry announced that an operation was launched immediately based on what it called “precise intelligence.” It added that authorities had intercepted a vehicle believed to belong to the abductors that flipped over as they tried to flee. One suspected kidnapper was arrested.
However, Kittleson was not in the vehicle. Iraqi media reports indicated she was taken near the Baghdad Hotel on Saadoun Street.
The journalist reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria in the past. She wrote for publications including Al Monitor and New Lines magazine.
Officials in the administration of United States President Donald Trump confirmed to Al-Monitor that they were aware of the threat against Kittleson and had advised against travel to Iraq.
One of the officials told the news outlet that the State Department is aware of her kidnapping and working with the Iraqi government to secure her release.
The kidnapping came just over a month into the American-Israeli war on Iran, which led to speculations that the journalist was taken by one of the Iraqi armed factions backed by the Islamic Republic, like Kataib Hezbollah. There is still no evidence confirming this, however.
Just a day earlier, the Israeli Knesset passed a highly controversial law mandating the death penalty for West Bank Palestinians convicted of carrying out “deadly terror attacks”.
Following the move, Abu Ubaida, the military spokesman for the Hamas Movement, called on Lebanon’s Hezbollah to “intensify their efforts” to kidnap Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, saying it was in order to “liberate” Palestinian and Arab prisoners.
“Our people’s struggle against the Zionists has proven that the shortest path to liberating prisoners is through resistance,” Ubaida claimed, urging Hezbollah to “complete the mission” that Hamas started in Gaza. “We are certain that God will not forsake our free prisoners and will grant them relief and a way out of their predicament.”
The kidnapping of Kittleson may be the first response from the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance” to the Israeli decision to allow the execution of Palestinian prisoners.
The Trump administration has been extremely supportive of Israel, and has faced much criticism at home and abroad over the issue since the start of the war on Iran.
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is she an actual journalist or a zionist propagandist?
since the genocidal apartheid settler colony “israel” adores killing journalists, it would be only fair to nab one of their propagandists in return.
the jooz have murdered well over 200 journalists in gaza.
…… and their families.
what’s the difference between a journalist who is murdered by the zionists, and a journalist who is kidnapped and then wanted to be returned by the zionists?
which one is the r e a l journalist?
dump all palestinians into the sea!
heheheh
kick the jooz out of occupied palestine!