An American journalist who was abducted in Baghdad by an Iraqi militia allied with Iran was freed on Tuesday after a week in captivity, according to the militia and two Iraqi security officials.
The militia, Kataib Hezbollah, said in a statement that it had released the journalist, Shelly Kittleson, “in appreciation of the patriotic positions” of Iraq’s prime minister, who had been negotiating for her release. The group said Ms. Kittleson must leave Iraq immediately.
“This initiative will not be repeated in the future,” a security commander from the group, who is known as Abu Mujahid Al-Asaf, said in the statement. “We are in a state of war waged by the Zionist-American enemy against Islam and in such situations many considerations are disregarded.”
Kataib Hezbollah, one of the most powerful militias in Iraq, is closely tied to Iran’s Quds Force, the overseas arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The abduction of Ms. Kittleson, 49, is its second kidnapping of a foreigner in Iraq. In 2023, the group abducted Elizabeth Truskov, an Israeli-Russian doctoral student, and held her hostage for more than two years, torturing her while in captivity.
Ms. Kittleson, who has reported on the Middle East for more than a decade for various outlets, was set free in exchange for the release of several imprisoned Kataib Hezbollah members, according to the two Iraqi security officials. They asked not to be identified in order to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Her abduction prompted a manhunt for the kidnappers by Iraq’s security forces and efforts by the U.S. government to secure her release. A day after she was kidnapped, Kataib Hezbollah offered to negotiate the journalist’s freedom in exchange for the Iraqi government’s release of several detained militia members.
There has been growing American anxiety about Iranian-aligned armed groups in Iraq. In March, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad told all American citizens they should leave Iraq immediately, citing attacks on civilian facilities and government buildings owned by the United States and its regional allies.
Kataib Hezbollah is one of the Iraqi militias at the forefront of retaliatory attacks for the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. It has launched rocket and drone attacks almost daily on U.S. targets in Iraq and neighboring countries. Among the attacks it has claimed are missile strikes on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
The group is one of the most hard-line and powerful Iranian proxies in Iraq. Repeated attacks on U.S. Army posts in Iraq and Syria over the years contributed to Washington’s decision in 2009 to designate the militia a foreign terrorist organization.
Ms. Kittleson is known for “her courageous reporting from war zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria,” according to the Al-Monitor, for which she is a contributor.
Pranav Baskar is an international reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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