Shelly Kittleson, an American journalist, was kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday. The news was confirmed by CNN's Alex Plitsas, who's her designated US point of contact. Turkiye Today reported that Kittleson was taken by Kataib Hezbollah, a Iran-backed group that the US has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
The search for Kittleson remains on, as per reports, though a statement from the Iraq government indicated that one of the kidnappers had been caught while trying to flee. The US government noted that Kittleson was warned of threats against her by the militia group prior to her kidnapping.
Several people have flocked to her Instagram posts to express solidarity and pray for her safe return. Her last post on Instagram prior to her kidnapping comes from a week back. “Syrian desert. March 2026,” she wrote, sharing an image of a road running through the desert.
A 2017 interview of Kittleson with TRT World has also emerged amid news of her kidnapping. In the interview, she recounted what her first time in a war zone felt like. She explained how the bombing left a severe impact on her and how she got used to looking for a place to hide whenever she heard a plane or a helicopter overhead.
