US Reporter Held by Al-Qaeda-Linked Group in Syria Released

Bilal Abdul Kareem | Photo: Facebook
Bilal Abdul Kareem | Photo: Facebook
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US Reporter Held by Al-Qaeda-Linked Group in Syria Released

Bilal Abdul Kareem | Photo: Facebook
Bilal Abdul Kareem | Photo: Facebook

An American journalist, living in northwestern Syria for nearly a decade, has been released, six months after he was captured by an al-Qaeda-linked militant group, Syrian opposition media reported.

Bilal Abdul Kareem, a native of Mount Vernon, N.Y., has been living in the rebel-held Syrian northwest since 2012, reporting on the Syrian government military campaigns against areas in opposition hands. He had been detained last August, following a report he did about torture in the prisons of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the al-Qaeda-linked group that dominates the area.

Local prominent figures had appealed to the militants to release him. Abdul Kareem had reported and collaborated with Western news outlets, which had largely stayed out of the war-torn country after a spat of kidnapping. He later set up his own news network, On The Ground News.

The US State Department designated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham a terrorist group in 2018 despite its move to publicly disassociate itself from al-Qaeda the previous year. Rights groups and the UN-backed Commission of Inquiry have accused the group of detaining and torturing civilians and those who documented the group´s abuse of Syrian protesters, journalists, and women.

Syrian opposition news outlets and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Abdul Kareem's release on Wednesday. The Observatory said local mediation secured his release after a tribunal set up and run by the al-Qaeda-linked group had sentenced him.

A statement by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham confirmed he was released because of mediation and said Abdul Kareem had been detained because of spreading false news, working with groups that undermine security, and incite against authorities in the opposition-controlled areas. Photographs of Abdul Kareem were shared online after his release, in which he appeared to have lost some weight. His wife gave birth to a daughter in January while he was held by the militant group. He was allowed to see his family twice during his six months in captivity.

Abdul Kareem has spent years covering the Middle East. Born Darrell Lamont Phelps, he converted to Islam, studied Arabic in Egypt, and traveled to Libya to cover the conflict there. He arrived in Syria in 2012. He had interviewed Syrian rebels and militant groups, developing a reputation as a sympathizer. He survived a number of airstrikes in Syria, prompting him to file a lawsuit against the US government, demanding to know whether he was on a "kill list." In January, a federal court dismissed his case on the grounds that he did not have standing to bring the claim. Reprieve, the UK-based legal rights group that represented him in the US case, also reported his release.

"Bilal´s release is welcome news, and his quest for justice in the US courts continues," said Jennifer Gibson, who leads Reprieve´s work on the case. In 2019, he was wounded by shrapnel when he and a Sky News crew came under fire from a Syrian government tank shell, an incident that was caught on camera.



Sudan’s Ruling Council Reshuffles Cabinet amid Brutal Conflict

A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
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Sudan’s Ruling Council Reshuffles Cabinet amid Brutal Conflict

A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)

Sudan's army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at war with paramilitaries, has announced a cabinet reshuffle that replaces four ministers including those for foreign affairs and the media.

The late Sunday announcement comes with the northeast African country gripped by the world's worst displacement crisis, threatened by famine and desperate for aid, according to the UN.

In a post on its official Facebook page, Sudan's ruling sovereignty council said Burhan had approved replacement of the ministers of foreign affairs, the media, religious affairs and trade.

The civil war that began in April 2023 pits Burhan's military against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries under the command of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Since then, the army-aligned Sudanese government has been operating from the eastern city of Port Sudan, which has largely remained shielded from the violence.

But the Sudanese state "is completely absent from the scene" in all sectors, economist Haitham Fathy told AFP earlier this year.

The council did not disclose reasons behind the reshuffle but it coincides with rising violence in al-Gezira, south of the capital Khartoum, and North Darfur in Sudan's far west bordering Chad.

On Friday the spokesman for United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he condemned attacks by the RSF on Gezira, after the United States made a similar call over the violence against civilians.

Among the key government changes, Ambassador Ali Youssef al-Sharif, a retired diplomat who previously served as Sudan's ambassador to China and South Africa, was appointed foreign minister.

He replaces Hussein Awad Ali who had held the role for seven months.

Journalist and TV presenter Khalid Ali Aleisir, based in London, was named minister of culture and media.

The reshuffle also saw Omar Banfir assigned to the trade ministry and Omar Bakhit appointed to the ministry of religious affairs.

Over the past two weeks, the RSF increased attacks on civilians in Gezira following the army's announcement that an RSF commander had defected.

According to an AFP tally based on medical and activist sources, at least 200 people were killed in Gezira last month alone. The UN reports that the violence has forced around 120,000 people from their homes.

In total, Sudan hosts more than 11 million displaced people, while another 3.1 million are now sheltering beyond its borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.