The Iraqi militia group Kataib Hezbollah has released American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was abducted in Baghdad in late March, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday. The release was facilitated with the assistance of officials from the Pentagon, the FBI, and the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council, highlighting a coordinated effort to secure her freedom.
Rubio expressed relief over Kittleson’s release and confirmed ongoing efforts to ensure her safe exit from Iraq. Earlier on the same day, Kataib Hezbollah declared it would free Kittleson but demanded that she leave the country immediately.
This development follows intensified pressure from the Iraqi government and prominent Shi’ite leaders who urged the militia to release the journalist, a government official familiar with the matter. Kittleson, a U.S. freelance journalist based in Rome, has covered multiple conflicts in the region and contributed to various media outlets.
On Tuesday, a video surfaced on social media channels linked to Kataib Hezbollah, showing a woman identifying herself as Kittleson speaking in English against a plain backdrop. While the video has not been independently verified, it would represent the first visual confirmation of her since the kidnapping.
In a related context, Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian graduate student from Princeton University, was abducted by the same militia during a research visit to Iraq in March 2023 and was subsequently released in 2025.
