Terrorists Release American Hostage

Kidnappers in Syria have freed an American writer missing since 2012, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday, following what Qatari-owned TV station Al Jazeera said were efforts by the Gulf Arab state to win his release.

Kerry said in a statement announcing the release of Peter Theo Curtis that the United States was using “every diplomatic, intelligence and military tool” at its disposal to secure the release of other Americans held hostage in Syria.

News of Curtis’s release emerged just days after the militant group Islamic State posted a video on the Internet showing one of its fighters beheading American journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012.

Kerry said Curtis had been held by Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s official wing in Syria whose rivalry with Islamic State has fueled war among the insurgents themselves.

The U.N. issued a statement confirming Curtis’s release.

“The United Nations can confirm that it facilitated the handover of Peter Theo Curtis. He was handed over to UN peacekeepers in Al Rafid village, Quneitra, the Golan Heights, at 6:40 p.m. (local time) on 24 August 2014. After receiving a medical check-up, Mr. Curtis was handed over to representatives of his government.”

Curtis, 45, also goes by the name Theo Padnos, according to his family, who described him as a journalist and a writer.

White House national security adviser Susan Rice said in a statement that Curtis was “safe outside of Syria, and we expect he will be reunited with his family shortly.”

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