Two Journalists Freed by Syrian Rebels After Weeklong Ordeal
Source: New York Times
CAIRO — Two foreign journalists captured by Islamic extremists in Syria and held for a week were rescued by Syrian opposition fighters, one of them said on Friday.
A Dutch freelance photographer, Jeroen Oerlemans, contacted by telephone in Turkey, described a harrowing ordeal during which he and his captured colleague, a British photographer, John Cantlie, were held at a camp in Syria by a group of several dozen foreign jihadists, who kept them hooded and blindfolded and repeatedly threatened to kill them.
Mr. Oerlemans said their captors apparently included no Syrian fighters, but instead jihadists from Bangladesh, Britain, Chechnya and Pakistan. The photographers were seized July 19 shortly after they entered Syria at Bab al-Hawa, a border crossing with Turkey that has been reported under control of a jihadi group.
“They were only foreign jihadis, I don’t think there was one Syrian among them,” Mr. Oerlemans said. He estimated their numbers at 30 to 100. “They were from all over the world, I think.” He also said the jihadists, who spoke English, talked of being under the leadership of an unidentified “emir.”
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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/world/middleeast/jeroen-oerlemans-john-cantile-two-journalists-freed-by-islamic-fighters-in-syria-after-weeklong-ordeal.html
Syria is becoming the new Iraq: a magnet for jihadis from all over the place, eager to establish the caliphate and fight Israel, Iran, and the West. Oh, and they keep mentioning Guantamo Bay. I guess it's the gift that keeps on giving.
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