Iran-Backed Militants in Iraq Float Prisoner Swap for Kidnapped American Journalist as Pentagon Weighs Risks of a Rescue Operation

Iranian-backed militants have approached Iraqi authorities with a prisoner-swap proposal for American freelance reporter Shelly Kittleson — now missing more than two days after suspected Kataib Hezbollah operatives bundled the 49-year-old into a waiting vehicle on a central Baghdad street Tuesday afternoon, even as United States officials were issuing her fresh warnings to flee.A Baghdad official confirmed to the Sun on Thursday that individuals believed to be linked to the militia approached Iraqi authorities with a proposal — the release of detained militia members in exchange for Ms. Kittleson. No official confirmation has been made public.“We are doing everything we can,” the official stressed, adding that little headway has been made thus far.It is believed the Wisconsin native – who had ignored warnings from the American government to leave Iraq – is being held somewhere in the vicinity of Jurf Al Sakhar, an Iraqi town around 40 miles southwest of Baghdad in Babil Governorate and a major stronghold of the Iran-aligned militia.American journalist Shelly Kittleson poses for a cellphone photo in a cafe in Baghdad, Iraq, March 25, 2025. AP PhotoThe State Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Council, Delta Force, and Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service are all in contact about the case, sources familiar with the investigation said. One source close to the Pentagon tells the Sun that Special Forces rescue operations are being considered; however, they are not the preferred option due to their high risk.“Joint Special Operations Command is close by, obviously. They have the authorities since the area of responsibility is a combat zone, and I’m sure they are targeting all terror groups,” the military source explained. “But the biggest danger to her is getting killed in an Israeli or American airstrike like Weinstein.”Warren Weinstein, a 73-year-old American development worker, was seized by al-Qaeda in Lahore, Pakistan, in August 2011 and held captive for nearly four years before being killed in a January 2015 United States drone strike targeting an al-Qaeda compound on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, a strike carried out without knowledge that he was being held there. At the time, President Obama appeared in the White House briefing room to take full responsibility and say he profoundly regretted Mr. Weinstein’s death.The source also noted that Joint Special Operations Command “is going very dark at the moment and hiding all signatures to avoid missile attacks, which could keep them from helping her for now.”FBI agents visited the Kittleson family at their home in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, on Tuesday night. The kidnapped journalist’s mother, 72-year-old Barb Kittleson, told the Associated Press she learned of the kidnapping from a news broadcast.“Terrible. Scared. I’ll pray for her,” she said. “Journalism is what she wanted to do so bad. I wanted her to come home and not do it, but she said, ‘I’m helping people.’”Multiple Iraqi sources with knowledge of the case told the Sun that the one detained suspect from the scene is a member of the 45th Brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces, the Iranian-backed umbrella paramilitary structure under which Kataib Hezbollah operates.Surveillance footage shows a silver car pulling up to where Ms. Kittleson stood on the sidewalk on Saadoun Street before two men forced her into the back seat and sped away. Iraqi security forces pursued the kidnappers southwest toward Babil province, but their efforts were largely in vain. One suspect has been arrested and one vehicle seized; Ms. Kittleson’s exact whereabouts and whether she was injured in the car chase remains unclear.The warnings Ms. Kittleson received from the American government in the days leading up to her abduction were explicit. She was briefed on a Kataib Hezbollah plot targeting female journalists, and her name appeared on a list in the militia’s possession. Hours before she was taken, she met a friend in Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood, received a fresh warning from American officials, and dismissed it. “They will not hurt me,” she told her friend.An Iraqi official also disclosed Wednesday that she had attempted to cross from Syria into Iraq via the al-Qaim border crossing on March 9, three weeks before her abduction, and was initially turned back for lacking a press work permit and due to security concerns stemming from the ongoing war. The United States Embassy Baghdad security alert dated March 29 warned that Iran-aligned militias may attempt to kidnap Americans and instructed all United States citizens to leave Iraq immediately.However, Ms. Kittleson was no tourist and had long been based in Baghdad as a widely respected freelance reporter, operating tenaciously without the kind of security – or rules – that protect staff employees of western news organizations. “Shelly speaks fluent Arabic, has worked in countless hostile environments and cares very much about getting the story right,” one friend and colleague tells the Sun. “But strangely, in the days before her abduction, several Iraqis I didn’t know started liking the images of her and me.”The Associated Press also reported that she had “embraced Islam” years ago.Those close to Ms. Kittleson also conveyed concern for her food allergies, including peanuts, while being held in captivity.She has spent roughly two decades reporting from conflict zones across the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. Kataib Hezbollah, meanwhile, has a documented history of abducting foreign nationals in Baghdad. The group held Russian-Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov captive for more than two years after seizing her at a Baghdad café in March 2023, releasing her only after protracted negotiations.The Committee to Protect Journalists noted that Iraq already accounts for 10 percent of the 90 journalists missing globally, with nine — two foreign, seven Iraqi — already confirmed or suspected kidnapped in the country before Tuesday. Ms. Kittleson is the first American journalist abducted anywhere in the world since Steven Sotloff was seized in Syria in 2013 and subsequently killed.“The abduction of Shelly Kittleson in broad daylight reflects an alarming breach of journalists’ safety in Iraq that highlights the increased risk of reporting from the Middle East,” CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said. “Iraqi authorities must act swiftly to secure her safe release and hold those responsible to account, while ensuring the dark era of journalist kidnappings and assassinations does not return to Iraq. Such incidents risk creating a climate of fear that undermines the press and journalists’ ability to work safely.”

Iran-Backed Militants in Iraq Float Prisoner Swap for Kidnapped American Journalist as Pentagon Weighs Risks of a Rescue Operation

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