Kidnapped American Journalist Set to Be Released by Hezbollah After Forced Confession

If there’s one situation you’d never want to find yourself in, it would be held captive in Iraq by an Iranian-backed Hezbollah group that you’d never heard of. Unfortunately, for independent journalist Shelly Kittleson, that’s exactly what happened to her after she was nabbed by Kata'ib Hezbollah on March 31 in Baghdad.

The good news: she is reportedly set to be released, although not before making a “confession”:

Kata'ib Hezbollah had Kittleson's name on a list of American journalists to target for kidnapping, multiple sources said. She was abducted in Baghdad last Tuesday, March 31.
A spokesperson for the Kata'ib Hezbollah militia said earlier in a post on the group's Telegram messaging app channel that Kittleson was being released on the condition that she leave Iraq immediately.
Her whereabouts were not immediately clear.

Here’s the 49-year-old from Monticello, Wisconsin, under duress:

Iraqi Hezbollah releases footage of American journalist Shelly Kittelson in captivity, showing her “admitting” she gathered intelligence on Shia militias for the U.S. consul in Baghdad.

They say she will be freed and must leave Iraq immediately. https://t.co/M8nTZaFNRC pic.twitter.com/bUiqbTiCCm
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 7, 2026

The group seems to think the video shows that Kittleson was a grave danger:

Kataib Hezbollah, Arabic for Hezbollah Brigades, also said it was releasing a video “illustrating the role of [Kittleson] and her activities in Iraq.”
In the two-minute video shared on Telegram, Kittleson appears to be reading from a script in a stilted voice as she hails her kidnappers.
It isn’t clear when or where the video was filmed or where Kittleson is now.

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Talk about terrifying: Kittleson was captured in broad daylight while just standing there:

Shelly Kittleson, a freelance journalist who has worked for years in Iraq and Syria, remains missing after her abduction on Tuesday in Baghdad. Surveillance video shows two men approaching a person standing on a street corner and ushering the person into the back of a car. There… pic.twitter.com/rULATwPxmh
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 1, 2026

There appears to be a brief struggle to shut the car door before the men get into the vehicle and it drives away.

Although this is potentially good news, there’s no cause for celebration yet until she is actually released. Here’s her emergency contact, CNN National Security Analyst Alex Plitsas, saying he has no proof:

I have seen the alleged statement from Khatib Hezbollah regarding Shelley’s potential release. We have no official confirmation from the United States government that this is true. The Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell is the lead entity. No comment until a determination is made.
— Alex Plitsas 🇺🇸 (@alexplitsas) April 7, 2026

I can’t help but wonder if these Hezbollah creeps took note of what the U.S. is doing in Iran — unaliving most of its leaders — and thought to themselves, hey, let’s not bring this down on ourselves. Let’s let her go and then run away like it never happened before a Patriot missile drops on our heads.

In any case, we hope to see Kittleson alive and well in the near future.

Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.

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