By North America correspondent Ben Knight, Monday 25 August 2014
Photo: Journalist Peter Theo Curtis was freed by militants in Syria after 22 months in captivity. (ABC: Al Jazeera)
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Kidnappers in Syria have freed a US journalist missing since 2012, as authorities say they are closing in on the Islamic State militant who executed reporter James Foley last week.
Peter Theo Curtis was handed over to UN representatives late on Sunday and is now in the hands of American officials.
The 45-year-old had been missing since October 2012 when he was last seen in the Turkish city of Antakya, apparently intending to enter Syria through the nearby border.
There are grave concerns for journalists being held captive in the region after video emerged last week of American James Foley, who was also captured in 2012, being beheaded.
That video, together with a threat to kill another US journalist being held hostage, Steven Sotloff, inspired widespread revulsion and an effort to hunt down Foley's killer, who spoke with a London accent.
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that about 20 journalists are missing in Syria. Many of them are believed to be held by Islamic State.
A source in Qatar told Reuters he did not know if the Gulf Arab state was involved in seeking to free other journalists, but added that "any captives with (Islamic State) will be very difficult for Qatar to free, while others with different groups would be easier".
US secretary of state John Kerry confirmed the release saying the US was using "every diplomatic, intelligence and military tool" at its disposal to secure the release of other Americans held hostage in Syria. It is not known if a ransom was paid.
It is believed Curtis, who is fluent in Arabic, had been kidnapped by Al Qaeda offshoot the Nusrah Front, and in a video shot in captivity a few months ago he described himself as a journalist and said he was being treated well.
But a fellow prisoner who escaped last year said the group tortured and starved its prisoners.
White House national security adviser Susan Rice said Curtis was "safe outside of Syria, and we expect he will be reunited with his family shortly".
The journalist's family said it was not privy to the terms of his release but were "deeply grateful to the governments of the United States and Qatar and to the many individuals, private and public, who helped negotiate the release of our son, brother and cousin".
"We are also deeply saddened by the terrible, unjustified killing last week of (Curtis's) fellow journalist, Jim Foley," the family said in a statement, appealing for the release of other hostages.
"My heart is full at the extraordinary, dedicated, incredible people, too many to name individually, who have become my friends and have tirelessly helped us over these many months," said Curtis's mother, Nancy Curtis, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Please know that we will be eternally grateful."
Authorities close in on 'Jihadi John'
A day after the beheading of Foley, the Pentagon confirmed it had launched a secret mission to rescue Foley and others held captive but failed to find them.
Britain's ambassador to the US, Peter Westmacott, told CNN that British intelligence was putting a great deal of resources into identifying the suspect in Foley's killing, including the use of voice-recognition technology.
Photo: British media have identified James Foley's suspected killer as former London rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary. (Supplied)
Former hostages of IS have suggested the man in the video is one of a group of British Islamists assigned to guard foreign prisoners.
They have been dubbed John, Paul and Ringo, of the Beatles, because of their British accents, and British media say the suspect is "Jihadi John" who they have identified as former London rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary.
However, Mr Westmacott said he could not give official details of the killer's identity, but added: "I do know from my colleagues at home that we are close."
"We're not yet in a position to say exactly who this is, but there is some very sophisticated voice identification technology and other measures we've got that should allow us to be very clear about who this person is," he said.
IS militants take control of Syrian air base
News of Curtis's release came as hundreds of IS fighters wrested control of the north-eastern Syria Tabqa air base after days of fighting more which cost than 500 lives, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 346 IS fighters were killed and more than 170 members of government forces had died since fighting broke out last Tuesday, making it one of the deadliest confrontations between the two groups since the start of Syria's war.
The air base at Tabqa, 40 kilometres east of Raqqa, was the Syrian army's last foothold in an area otherwise controlled by IS.
Syrian state television said that after fierce battles, the military was "regrouping". Citing a military source, it said there was a "successful evacuation of the airport" and that the army was continuing strikes on "terrorist groups" in the area, which it said had suffered heavy losses.
To the west, IS forces withdrew from areas it controlled outside Homs and retreated east after coming under attack from rival Islamist fighters with the Al Nusra Front, the Observatory said.
As well as Nusra Front, Western-backed rebels have fought IS in Syria but have regularly been defeated by the group, which in June declared an Islamic caliphate in the territory it controls.
Iran, Iraq say global effort needed to defeat IS
Meanwhile, Iraqi prime minister-designate Dr Haider al-Abadi and Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said an international effort was needed to destroy IS.
During talks in Baghdad with Iraqi officials, Mr Zarif reaffirmed Tehran's support for Iraq's territorial unity and its fight against militants.
Photo: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) has backed the Iraqi al-Abadi government in its fight against Islamic State (Reuters: Ahmed Saad)
"We feel very comfortable about the democratic process in Iraq which has reached to a logical result through selecting prime minister-designate Haider al-Abadi to form an inclusive government that comprises all Iraqi sects," Mr Zarif said.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will keep standing by your side. Iran backs the unity of Iraq and the stabilising of security and considers that as a priority in its foreign policy."
However, Mr Zarif denied reports Iranian soldiers were fighting with Iraqis against IS.
The advance of IS through northern Iraq has alarmed the Baghdad government and its Western allies, prompting the first US air strikes in Iraq since US occupation forces pulled out in 2011.
Although the US air campaign launched this month has caused some setbacks for IS, they do not address the deeper problem of sectarian warfare which the group has fuelled with its attacks on Shiites.
ABC/Reuters
