American journalist Shelly Kittleson is expected to be released on Tuesday after a week in captivity following her kidnapping in Baghdad, according to statements from the militia that held her.
Kittleson, an award-winning journalist with Al-Monitor, was reporting on regional developments in the Iraqi capital on March 31 when she was abducted by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia group distinct from the Lebanese organization Hezbollah.
In a statement, Kataib Hezbollah said it would release Kittleson “in appreciation of the patriotic positions” of Iraq’s prime minister, who had been involved in negotiations for her pending release, and ordered her to leave the country immediately.
“This initiative will not be repeated in the future,” a group security commander 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.”
U.S. officials are reportedly waiting for Kittleson to be transferred to American custody.
Two Iraqi security officials said Kittleson’s release was secured in exchange for the freeing of several detained Kataib Hezbollah members.
Kataib Hezbollah is part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” to attack U.S. troops during the ongoing Iran war.
Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, Kataib Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militias have launched attacks on U.S. forces, U.S. Central Command spokesman Tim Hawkins said in a March statement to the Washington Examiner.
“U.S. forces have taken action in response to attacks from Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups against American forces and personnel since the start of Operation Epic Fury,” Hawkins said. “We will not hesitate to protect our people.”
On Thursday, the State Department issued a security alert urging Americans in Iraq to leave the country, warning that militant groups had targeted U.S. citizens for kidnapping, likely referencing Kittleson’s abduction.
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The militant groups have not caused any “significant injuries” to American forces in or near Iraq, according to a CENTCOM official’s statement to the Washington Examiner last month. The official added that the threat posed by the militias has had “no impact” on the U.S. goals in Iran.
While it has engaged U.S. forces in Iraq, other allied groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis, have focused their attacks primarily on Israel during the war.