American Journalist Missing In Syria

Troubling news via the Associated Press: 

An American journalist has been missing in Syria since he was kidnapped more than one month ago, his family said Wednesday, less than two years after he was held by government forces in Libya while covering that country’s civil war.

The family of James Foley, of Rochester, N.H., said he was kidnapped in northwest Syria by unknown gunmen on Thanksgiving Day.

Foley, 39, has worked in a number of conflict zones around the Middle East, including Syria, Libya and Iraq. He was contributing videos to Agence France-Press while in Syria.

Foley’s disappearance highlights the risks to reporters seeking to cover the civil war from inside Syria.

The Syrian government rarely gives visas to journalists and often limits the movements of those it allows in. This has prompted a number of reporters to sneak into the country with the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad. Some have been killed or wounded while others have disappeared.

Foley and another journalist were working in the northern province of Idlib when they were kidnapped near the village of Taftanaz on Nov. 22. He had entered Syria a short time earlier.

Media outlets refrained from reporting on Foley’s kidnapping until his family released its statement. The other reporter’s family has requested that that reporter’s name not be made public.

Foley’s family said they have not heard from him since.

Hopefully, Mr. Foley will be returned to his family quickly and safely.