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.



Palestinian Officials Say Israeli Settlers Torched Cars in Ramallah

Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
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Palestinian Officials Say Israeli Settlers Torched Cars in Ramallah

Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)

Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers were behind an attack in which several cars were torched overnight just a few kilometers (miles) away from the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

No one was wounded in the attack overnight into Monday in Al-Bireh, a city adjacent to Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered. An Associated Press reporter counted 18 burned-out cars.

Settler attacks on Palestinians and their property have surged since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel.

But attacks in and around Ramallah, home to senior Palestinian officials and international missions, are rare.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers population centers in the territory, condemned the attack. Israeli police, who handle law enforcement matters involving settlers in the West Bank, said they were investigating.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state. The territory’s 3 million Palestinians live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy over less than half of the territory.

Over 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship live in scores of settlements across the West Bank, which most of the international community considers illegal.