BEIRUT — An American journalist who had been abducted by rebels in Syria was freed on Sunday after nearly two years in captivity, U.S. officials said.
Peter Theo Curtis, who went missing in October 2012 after telling friends and family he intended to travel to Syria, was handed over to the United Nations in Syria, reportedly after Qatar played a part in negotiating his release, the officials said.
Curtis, 45, had been held by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, the State Department said, and was not believed to be part of the group of American hostages held by the more extremist Islamic State.
The release came three days after the Islamic State group issued a chilling video announcing that it had beheaded U.S. journalist James Foley, and threatening to do the same to another hostage, Steven Sotloff, if the United States does not call off its airstrikes in Iraq.
The release was nonetheless welcomed by U.S. officials as a relief from the grim news of recent days.
“Particularly after a week marked by unspeakable tragedy, we are all relieved and grateful knowing that Theo Curtis is coming home after so much time held in the clutches of Jabhat Al-Nusrah,” Secretary of State John F. Kerry said in a statement.
The United States had reached out to more than two dozen countries seeking help to secure Curtis’s release, in close coordination with his mother, who lives in Massachusetts, Kerry said. Details of the kidnapping had been kept under wraps at the request of the family in order to facilitate negotiations.
The Qatar-based Al Jazeera television network, which first reported the release, said Qatar had played a key role in the negotiations. It did not give details, but Qatar has been central to a number of hostage releases in Syria in recent months.
In one release negotiated by Qatar last year, Lebanese captives in rebel custody were exchanged for prisoners held by the Syrian government. Earlier this year, a group of Syrian nuns held by Jabhat al-Nusra also were released in return for prisoners held by the government.
Qatar also has played a part in negotiations for the release of Westerners captured by Syrian rebels, in some instances involving ransoms, according to a Lebanese security official who was also involved in the negotiations.
U.S. officials declined to discuss details of the negotiations for the release of Curtis, who had written on Syria and Yemen under the name Theo Padnos. He was last seen in October 2012 in the Turkish border town of Antakya, after telling colleagues he planned to teach English in Syria despite the war raging at the time.
Colleagues said that he was held for much of the time after his captivity with Matthew Schrier, who escaped last year from his cell in the rebel-held portion of Aleppo and told the story of his abduction and release to the New York Times.
National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice said Curtis is now safe outside Syria and soon will be reunited with his family.
“For two years, we have kept Peter Theo Curtis, a U.S. citizen held hostage in Syria, in our thoughts and prayers. Today, we join his family and loved ones in welcoming his freedom,” she said in a statement.
The other American hostages still being held — at least four according to U.S. officials — have not been forgotten, she added.
“As President Obama said, we have and will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to see that the remaining American hostages are freed,” she said.
Goldman reported from Washington
Liz Sly is the Post’s Beirut bureau chief. She has spent more than 15 years covering the Middle East, including the Iraq war. Other postings include Africa, China and Afghanistan.
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