US Journalist Missing in Syria

James Foley's family issues statement after kidnapping
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 2, 2013 2:30 PM CST
US Journalist Missing in Syria
This photo posted on the website freejamesfoley.org shows journalist James Foley in Aleppo, Syria, in November, 2012.    (Nicole Tung)

An American journalist has been missing in Syria since he was kidnapped more than one month ago, his family said today, 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, NH, said he was kidnapped in northwest Syria by unknown gunmen on Thanksgiving day. Foley, a 39-year-old veteran of several combat zone assignments, was contributing videos to Agence France-Press in Syria.

Foley and another journalist were working in the northern province of Idlib when they were kidnapped near the village of Taftanaz on November 22, shortly after Foley's arrival in Syria. Media outlets refrained from reporting the kidnapping until Foley's family released its statement. The other reporter's family has requested that his name not be made public. "We want Jim to come safely home, or at least we need to speak with him to know he's OK," said Foley's father. An NBC News team recently spent five days in captivity in Syria. (More Syria stories.)

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