Richard Engel, NBC News' Chief Foreign Correspondent and his team have been freed after being captured in Syria, NBC News reported. After asking the media to be in a blackout about Engel's whereabouts, the network said in a statement 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."
NBC News reported that Engel said they were traveling with Syrian rebels when a group of men with guns jumped out of the trees and bushes and kidnapped them. Engel said that the gunmen killed one of the rebels right then and there and during captivity "they were subjected to mock executions while blindfolded and bound."
Engel said when he appeard on the "Today" show Tuesday morning, "We weren't physically beaten or tortured. It was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed. 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.
The group kidnapped included producer Ghazi Balkiz and cameraman John Kooistra as well as two other crew members whose names have not been released. Engel, Balkiz and Kooistra appeared together on "Today."
The Washington Post added that Engel said that the captors were part of a militia group known as Shabiha.
"Engel described the kidnappers as Shiite Muslims, trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and allied with Hezbollah."
Balkiz said according to The Washington Post, "We kept each others' spirits up" and Kooistra added, "I made good with my Maker. I made good with myself. I was prepared to die, many times."
The Washington Post reported that on Monday night they were moved to a different location when the group hit the Ahrar al-Sham checkpoint, which triggered an argument that led to them being freed.
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