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Subscribe to RSSAfter being held captive for five days in Syria, NBC's Richard Engel and his team recount being ambushed, blindfolded and traumatized before being freed at a checkpoint.
Updated at 8:15 a.m. ET: NBC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and members of his network production team were freed from captors in Syria after a firefight at a checkpoint on Monday, five days after they were taken prisoner, NBC News said early Tuesday.
“After being kidnapped and held for five days inside Syria by an unknown group, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his production crew members have been freed unharmed. We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country,” the network said in a statement.
“It is good to be here,” Engel said during a live appearance on TODAY from Turkey. “I’m very happy that we’re able to do this live shot this morning.”
Engel said that they were traveling with Syrian rebels when a group of about 15 gunmen “jumped out of the trees and bushes” and captured them.
'Psychological torture'
He said the gunmen executed one of the rebels “on the spot,” and later during their captivity they were subjected to mock executions while blindfolded and bound.
"We weren't physically beaten or tortured. It was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed," Engel said.
"They made us choose which one of us would be shot first and when we refused there were mock shootings. They pretended to shoot Ghazi [Balkiz, an NBC producer] several times,” Engel said.
Balkiz said that they had “worked with each other very well… we kept each other’s spirits up” during their ordeal. Cameraman John Kooistra said he had “made good with my maker” and had been “prepared to die many times.”
Engel said their captors “were talking openly about their loyalty to the government” of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
He said he had a “very good idea” about who they were -- members of the “shabiha” militia, loyal to Assad, trained by the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and allied with Lebanon-based group Hezbollah.
Engel said their captors’ plan was to use them to win the freedom of people held by the rebels.
“They captured us in order to carry out this exchange,” he said.
NBC News file
Richard Engel at the end of a reporting trip in Syria in July of this year.
Engel, 39, and his team disappeared shortly after crossing into northwest Syria from Turkey on Thursday. The network had not been able to contact them until learning that they had been freed on Monday.
The network said there was no claim of responsibility, no contact with the captors and no request for ransom during the time the crew was missing.
After entering Syria, Engel and his team were abducted, tossed into the back of a truck before being transported to an unknown location believed to be near the small town of Ma’arrat Misrin. During their captivity, they were blindfolded and bound, but otherwise not physically harmed, the network said.
Early Monday evening local time, the prisoners were being moved to a new location in a vehicle when their captors ran into a checkpoint manned by members of the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, a Syrian rebel group. There was a confrontation and a firefight ensued. Two of the captors were killed, while an unknown number of others escaped, the network said.
The NBC News crew was unharmed in the incident. They remained in Syria until Tuesday morning when they made their way to the border and re-entered Turkey, the network said. They were to be evaluated and debriefed, but had communicated that everyone was in good health.
NBC News said it “expressed its gratitude to those who worked to gather information and secure the release of our colleagues.”
Engel is widely regarded as one of America’s leading foreign correspondents for his coverage of wars, revolutions and political transitions around the world over the last 15 years. Most recently, he was recognized for his outstanding reporting on the 2011 revolution in Egypt, the conflict in Libya and unrest throughout the Arab world.
One of the only Western journalists to cover the entire war in Iraq , Engel was named chief foreign correspondent of NBC News in April 2008. He joined the network in May 2003.
The Syrian civil war began in March 2011, when demonstrators took to the streets to show support for the so-called Arab Spring uprisings sweeping across the Middle East and north Africa and to demand the resignation of Assad of the ruling Ba’ath Party. The following month, Assad deployed the Syrian army to quell the uprising, ordering troops to open fire on demonstrators. But despite the harsh crackdown, Assad’s troops and militias loyal to the government were unable to quell what soon became an armed uprising.
In the intervening months, the security situation in the country has continued to deteriorate amid increasingly fierce fighting between Syrian troops and a loose confederation of outgunned but increasingly emboldened rebel forces. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated in November that more than 40,000 people had died in the fighting.
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Leave a Comment:
Think that the movement of freedom is improved through prayer!
Remember that the right has brought us to the fiscal cliff and a country of no
Stay home where you belong! The world is going crazy. I like Richard Engel but I just don't think it is worth it. I just think that part of the world will be the downfall of everything. Iranians, Iraqis, Syrians, Afghans, Libyans, etc-- have no common sense and their problems are the same ones they have had for centuries. They are ripping apart their own beautiful, irreplaceable buildings and displacing hundreds of thousands of people who were just trying to live their lives. I realize a lot of people will not agree with me but when you see pictures of the cities they are almost destroyed after having stood for centuries. I think the whole Middle East is a world unto itself. They will never change. Throwing acid on girls just because they want to go to school, etc etc. They are so backward. I don't see how him or any other journalists getting tortured or beheaded or whatever would have helped anybody. Remember Daniel Pearl.
I expect a lot of people will think I am a jerk for my comments but I still think it's a waste for a reporter to go over there.
Badge of honor for a journalist. Probably the best thing that ever happened to them.
The silence regarding this abduction was apparently deliberate on the media's part as part of their effort to protect Richard Engel and his team. They are so fortunate to have been freed. Richard seems to live on the edge with his remarkable coverage and to those of us who are news watchers, his absence was noticed. He may be safe now, but it his experience will undoubtedly have a cost psychologically. My concern for him and others in the field is that next time one of them could end up being eulogized like Daniel Pearl.
Don't worry, Tomorrow he'll be on the attack against Israel.
HE IS ONE OF A NUMBER OF LIBERAL JEWISH FACES ON TV WHO HATE ISRAEL.
your an idiot
Don't scare me again like that Richard.
Your the best out there so always stay safe, we all count on your knowledge of the Middle East , you are irreplaceable.
NBC's chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, was taken hostage by a group of Assad's Shabihas. They were stopped by the Mujahideen of Ahrar al-Shaam and a firefight broke out, leading to the defeat of the Shabiha. The gallant Ahrar al-Shaam let the gringo go free, and the ungrateful US media still calls Ahrar al-Shaam extremists. Some news outlets are not even mentioning that Engel was freed by Ahrar al-Shaam!! They use the passive voice: "Engels was freed" like some fairy freed him!
For the US media, telling the truth or recognizing the generosity and gallantry of the Mujahideen would confuse their readers, who are kept on a news diet of Islamophobia and fear mongering stereotypes.
Lucky - glad he is safe but anyone in these middle eastern countries should be there on their own and should not expect our armed forces to rescue them as in the doctor several weeks ago resulting in the death of a SEAL team member.
I have massive respect for Richard Engel, who dedicates himself to reporting on the front lines and in more-than hostile locations in order to bring news to us safe in our homes here in the US. Though I may never have the courage to do what he does, I thank him for his work.
It's good news that they freed the team; but I wish they would have held on to Richard Engle.
I should add that I have zero respect for Richard Engel. He's an opportunist with a huge ego. Can't stand the man!!!
Why so much animosity toward someone who works in such a dangerous environment? At least he is one of the few courageous souls who dare to enter the "lion's dean" to bring you and me the news.
TWO THiNGS
1. Richard, I am beyond thankful you are safe!
2. I can only imagine how your mother must feel.
Oh and one more thing----- PLEASE BE SAFER!
One has to admire the courage of those who undertake these dangerous assignments. I have been listening to Richard Engel reporting from Syria about the conflict, but nothing from MSNBC indicated that he and his crew members were captured. Glad he is free
It seems that reporters from NBC and CNN have this kind of thing happen all too often. Funny, maybe I'm wrong, but, when was the last time a team from Fox got detained in a foreign country? I guess if your not really concerned with factual stories to begin with, it's not necessary to send anybody that far out in the field. I haven't tuned into FOX in the last couple of weeks. What are they saying about the Connecticut Shooting? Probably getting expert insights from Ted Nugent.
Fox News spends all of its time obsessing about Obama. There is no need for it to send its people to foreign countries.
Richard Engel has an accent. Where is he from?
Richard Engel is a great and gutsy reporter who put himself in harms way to do the honest reporting we all want and need. High honors to Richard, his crew and his escape.
Good News Bad News
It is good news (hurrah!) for his family that Richard Engel is on the loose.
Bad news for the rest of us that we have to continue to be subjected to his dual-loyalist, zionist propaganda.
Take a rest, Richard, a long long rest - say, 40 years or so.
Engel said three months ago in his opinion the rebels would win, maybe he ought to keep his mouth shut
unknown group my arse. This was the so called free syrian army kidnapping journalists in order to extort money. These low life morons got PAID to release this zionist reporter and now the spins begins with emphasis on his safety and not on the fact that we are supporting rag tag scumbags who mostly are al qaida.
Amazingly zionist this story. Pay the scumbags then make it look like it was a miracle that he was just freed ... Self absorbed moron working for israel anyway. Should have been captured by the Syrian Army for it to be real danger and not this theatrical presentation.
Hope someone really gets this low life reporter next time.