{"id":35014,"date":"2026-04-08T00:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=35014"},"modified":"2026-04-08T00:02:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:02:24","slug":"american-journalist-kidnapped-in-iraq-is-set-free-must-leave-country-immediately-her-employer-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=35014","title":{"rendered":"American journalist kidnapped in Iraq is set free, must leave country \u2018immediately,\u2019 her employer says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shelly Kittleson, the American journalist who was kidnapped last week in\u00a0Iraq, has been released, according to Al-Monitor, the Middle East publication where she works as a freelance contributor.\u00a0
\nViral surveillance footage appeared to show Kittleson being forced into a car by two men at a busy intersection in Baghdad last Tuesday. The State Department previously said an individual with ties to the Iranian-aligned militia group Kataib Hizballah was believed to be involved in Kittleson\u2019s capture.\u00a0
\nKataib Hizballah issued a statement that Kittleson was set free in \u201cappreciation of the patriotic positions\u201d of Iraq\u2019s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who pushed for her release. The group said she would be set free \u201con the condition that she leaves the country immediately,\u201d according to Al-Monitor.
\nAMERICAN JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ, EMPLOYER SAYS<\/p>\n

\u201cThis initiative will not be repeated in the future\u2026 we are in a state of war waged by the Zionist-American enemy against Islam and in such situations many considerations are disregarded,\u201d Kataib Hizballah security commander Abu Mujahid Al-Asaf added, according to The New York Times.\u00a0
\nA U.S. official confirmed her release to Fox News.\u00a0
\n\u201cThere were U.S. efforts behind the scenes, I am told, to secure her release from Kataib Hezbollah,\u201d Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reported.\u00a0
\nFormer Pentagon official Alex Plitsas, a friend of the journalist who has called himself her designated U.S. point of contact, posted on X that he isn\u2019t ready to celebrate.
\n\u201cWe are still awaiting Shelley to be transferred to US officials. We welcome the news of her pending release but will save celebratory statements until she is transferred\u2026. we will have more to say when she is in US hands,\u201d Plitsas wrote.\u00a0
\nThe State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

The 49-year-old freelance journalist, an American citizen and Wisconsin native based in Rome, reported from war zones for years, spending time in Afghanistan and Syria before Iraq.\u00a0She \u201coften worked without formal assignments from editors and on a shoestring budget, taking shared taxis to lawless corners\u00a0of Iraq\u00a0where militia rule outweighs government control,\u201d the Associated Press\u00a0reported\u00a0after speaking to her friends, family and colleagues.\u00a0
\nREPORTER KIDNAPPED IN BAGHDAD KNOWN FOR PURSUING GUTSY, LOW-BUDGET ASSIGNMENTS WHILE LIVING \u2018FRUGAL EXISTENCE\u2019<\/p>\n

Recent headlines published by Kittleson include, \u201cOn eve of Iran\u2019s Pezeshkian visit, Iraq jostles for Shiite space amid rivalries,\u201d \u201cIraqis protest proposed \u2018anti-women\u2019 amendment to personal status law\u201d and \u201cHonor killings in Iraq rekindle efforts to criminalize domestic violence.\u201d
\n\u201cHope she can return to do her job and tell the story of many who are not heard in region,\u201d\u00a0Al-Monitor top editor Joyce Karam posted when reporting her release.\u00a0
\nThe Associated Press, citing \u201can Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation,\u201d reported that she was freed in exchange for \u201cseveral members\u201d of Kataib Hezbollah that had previously been detained by Iraqi authorities.
\nUS STRIKES AGAINST IRAN-BACKED MILITIAS IN IRAQ REPORTEDLY CONTINUE AS BAGHDAD WARNS OF \u2018RIGHT TO RESPOND\u2019
\nReporters Without Borders released the following statement: \u201cWe are overjoyed by reports that Shelly Kittleson has been released by her captors in Iraq. Shelly\u2019s abduction underscored the very serious risks facing even the best-trained and experienced journalists. RSF is deeply grateful to all the parties involved from the American and Iraqi governments who were able to secure this positive outcome. RSF, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Foley Foundation wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on April 3, urging him to do everything in his power to bring Shelly home. We are now waiting for reassurance that she is all right and that she will be able to reunite with her loved ones soon.\u201d
\nBefore she was abducted, Kittleson told friends that U.S. officials had told her a militia group intended to target her, but she didn\u2019t believe the threat was credible.\u00a0
\nThis is a developing story, more to come\u2026\u00a0
\nThe Associated Press and Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst\u00a0 contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"851c6102-189cb926-gettyimages-2268737202-scaled.jpg\"Shelly Kittleson, the American journalist who was kidnapped last week in\u00a0Iraq, has been released, according…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[230,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}