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3. Iraq's Kataeb Hezbollah Says Will Release U.S. Journalist Shelly Kittleson

Iraq's powerful Kataeb Hezbollah armed group announced on Tuesday that it would release U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson, a week after she was kidnapped in Baghdad.

"In recognition of the national stances of the outgoing prime minister, we have decided to release the American defendant Shelly Kittleson, on the condition that she leaves the country immediately," Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, a security official in the Iran-backed group, said in a brief statement.

He added that this was an exceptional gesture that would "not be repeated again in the coming days, as we are in a state of war launched by the Zionist-American enemy against Islam, and in such cases many considerations are discarded".

A senior Iraqi security official had told AFP on Wednesday that authorities arrested a member of a pro-Iran group believed to be connected to the abduction of an American journalist.

Washington said the suspect was thought to be linked to Kataeb Hezbollah, which is blacklisted by the United States.

The State Department had not named Kittleson, but she was identified by media advocacy groups and one of the news outlets she worked for.

Baghdad was once notorious for kidnappings and attempted abductions, but they have decreased as the security situation in Iraq improved in recent years.

Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped in Baghdad in 2023 and was held for two years until her release last year.

AFP