OAN Staff Lillian Mann
1:50 PM – Tuesday, April 7, 2026
American journalist Shelly Kittleson was reportedly released on Tuesday, after the armed group Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia, kidnapped her in Baghdad, Iraq, one week prior.
Kittleson, 49, from Monticello, Wisconsin, has been granted release by Kataib Hezbollah under the terms that she must leave Iraq immediately, after she was taken by force by four armed men in Baghdad, Iraq on March 31st.
Kittleson, who has worked for several news outlets on events in the Middle East the past two decades, was also freed in exchange for the release of several imprisoned Kataib Hezbollah group members, Iraqi officials told the New York Times.
The group is one of the most powerful militias in Iraq, and has ties to Iran’s Quds Force — the foreign wing of the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC).
Kittleson’s release was confirmed by the security chief of Kataib Hezbollah, Abu Mujahid Aasafin, in a post on the encrypted social media messaging app, Telegram.
“Security official Abu Mujahid al-Asaf, in the name of God, the Most High, and in appreciation of the patriotic stances of the outgoing Prime Minister, has decided to release the American defendant, Shelley Kittleson, on the condition that she leaves the country immediately,” Aasaf said in a translation of an Arabic post on Telegram.
“This initiative will not be repeated in the future; we are in a state of war waged by the Zionist-American enemy against Islam, and in such situations, many considerations are disregarded,” the post continued.
At one point, Kataib Hezbollah had also released a video of Kittleson in captivity, which showed her “admitting” that she had collected information on Shia militias for the U.S. consulate in Baghdad.
Before her capture, Kittleson received multiple warnings and direct threats regarding her safety. Alex Plitsas, her U.S.-based point of contact, told CBS News that the militant group Kata’ib Hezbollah had reportedly been threatening to kidnap or kill female journalists.
Despite these escalating risks, Kittleson chose to continue her work.
According to journalist Kiran Nazish, Kittleson had been staying with a local family in Iraq who assured her they would “keep her safe.” In a text message to Nazish, Kittleson acknowledged she had been warned not to travel but maintained she was “doing what she had always done.”
Nazish noted that Kittleson was an experienced reporter who had traveled to Iraq and Syria several times and was well-versed in navigating difficult circumstances on the ground. At this time, her whereabouts have not been publicly released.
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