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Lawfare Blog: Following an American special forces raid on the compound of Islamic State operative Abu Sayyaf, U.S. interrogators, who are part of the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, have flown to Iraq in order to question Umm Sayyaf, the wife of Abu Sayyaf, who was taken during the operation. Umm Sayyaf was allegedly involved in the workings of the Islamic State and could possibly have played a role in “the enslavement of women in Iraq and Syria.” U.S. interrogators plan to talk to Umm Sayyaf about U.S. hostages held by the militant group. However, according to the Washington Post,...

Forget for an instant – if you can– the ethics of negotiating with a terrorist state that is openly and brazenly holding U.S. citizens as hostages. After all, America’s formerly worst president, Jimmy Carter, did just that for 444 days. But Carter was negotiating the whole time to achieve the release of the hostages, not the rehabilitation of the Islamist regime that had taken them. Today, the Obama White House absurdly claims that Iran has “already been punished” for holding U.S. hostages — by being excluded from Obama’s presence. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker elevated the status of America’s forgotten hostages...

The Senate lent strong support today to a simply worded resolution calling on Iran to let four Americans come home. The bipartisan resolution from Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) passed 90-0. It states that it’s the policy of the United States that “the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran should immediately release Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati, and Jason Rezaian, and cooperate with the United States Government to locate and return Robert Levinson; and the United States Government should undertake every effort using every diplomatic tool at its disposal to secure their immediate release.” Washington Post bureau chief Rezaian, a California...

<p>Novi, Michigan(CNN)Gov. Scott Walker on Monday sought to use President Barack Obama's slipping popularity on foreign policy issues as a punching bag and sought to bolster his own credentials ahead of a likely presidential bid.</p> <p>Speaking in Novi, Michigan, the Wisconsin Republican rallied around the plight of a Michigan man who has been held hostage in Iran since 2011 and blasted Obama for failing to do enough on the missing man's behalf--as well as failing to ward off attacks by Islamic terrorists around the world.</p>

Tuesday, 28 April 2015 Iran has fired at a U.S. cargo ship and has directed it to Bandar Abbas port on the southern coast of Iran, Al Arabiya News Channel has reported on Tuesday. Up to 34 American sailors are believed to be onboard the ship, Al Arabiya reported. (developing story) Last Update: Tuesday, 28 April 2015 KSA 17:32 - GMT 14:32

Moments ago according to the native Twitter feed of Arabiya, Iranian forces have seized a US cargo ship, which has some 34 American sailors, which they have taken to the port of Bandar Abbas. More as we get it.

Every American should join President Obama in his expression of condolences to the families of two hostages killed in January during a counterterrorism operation in Pakistan. Our prayers properly go to the loved ones of American doctor Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni LoPorto. But no one should sign on to the painful exercise of hand-wringing self-flagellation that the President felt compelled to attach in his Thursday morning revelation of the details. For about sixty seconds, his remarks looked like a rare example of an occasion free of political agendas. Even as he mused about the families’ pain “as...

Heartbreaking news, and a demonstration of the limit of remote-control warfare. The US drone program in Pakistan inadvertently killed two Western hostages being held by al-Qaeda, including an American whose family had repeatedly appealed for his release based on his age and health: A U.S. drone strike in January targeting a suspected al Qaeda compound in Pakistan inadvertently killed an American and Italian being held hostage by the group, senior Obama administration officials said.The killing of American development expert Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto is the first known instance in which the U.S. has accidentally...

Dr. Warren Weinstein, an American aid worker held hostage by al Qaeda, was accidentally killed in a U.S. counter-terrorism operation, as was an Italian hostage, Giovanni Lo Porto, and another American who was an al Qaeda leader, the White House announced on Thursday. Officials also announced that a separate operation killed Adam Gadahn, another American who became a prominent al Qaeda member. The White House said it was unaware the four were present at the sites. President Obama was set to make a statement after 10 a.m. ET. "The operation targeted an al-Qa'ida-associated compound, where we had no reason to...

The Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent Jason Rezaian has been imprisoned in Iran since being arrested nine months ago, and Iran announced his charges will include espionage.

A far-left Turkish group took an Istanbul prosecutor hostage on Tuesday and threatened to kill him, prompting special forces to enter the courthouse and police to evacuate the building. The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) published a picture of the prosecutor with a gun to his head and said it would kill him at 1236 GMT, three hours after gunmen stormed his office, unless its demands were met.

... Two years ago, Colonel John Steed, a former military attache to the British embassy in neighbouring Kenya, began his own personal mission to save those who were dubbed the “forgotten hostages” - the 100-plus sailors who still languished in pirate custody as of 2013. Drawn exclusively from poorer nations, their stories are a dark mirror image of that of Captain Phillips, the hijacked American whose rescue by US Navy seals became a blockbuster movie. Most have spent years in captivity, left to their fate not just by their employers but by their governments, who lack either the will or...

It's strange how you can interact with someone every day and not know anything about them at all. I work in Lebanon much of the year. When I'm there, I stay in the residential Christian neighborhood of Fanar, about 20 minutes outside of Beirut. I see the natour — the superintendent of my building — when I enter or exit. He's a handsome man in his 30s with a quick, easy smile. I knew he was Syrian, but that was the extent of my knowledge about his life. About a month ago, we were talking and it came out that...

At least 19 people have been killed in Tunisia after two gunmen stormed the Bardo national museum – one of the country’s leading tourist attractions in the capital, Tunis – sparking a three-hour hostage siege. Tunisia’s prime minister, Habib Essid, said on Wednesday afternoon that 17 of the dead were foreigners – from Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland – calling the attack a cowardly assault targeting the economy. Three hours after the attack started at about midday local time (11am GMT), an interior ministry spokesman said two gunmen had been killed, as well as one security officer, and that all...

Militants shot and killed at least eight people at a leading museum in Tunisia Wednesday and have taken several more hostage, the county’s interior ministry said. Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said on Radio Mosaique that only one of the dead in Wednesday's attack was a Tunisian. He did not provide nationalities for the others. Poland's Foreign Ministry announced that three Poles were among the wounded. Security forces filled the area around the National Bardo Museum in Tunis after the attack. Tunisia's parliament building, near the museum, was being evacuated, according to a tweet by parliament member Sayida Ounissi....

Eight years ago today Robert Levinson disappeared in Iran, while on a mission for the CIA. Tuesday will be his 67th birthday. Levinson's family said in a statement to ABC News, "Every year on this date, we remind the world that Bob's case is still not resolved and that this husband, father than grandfather is still not home where he belongs."

Two of the Assyrian Christian hostages released by ISIS have spoken to the mediaTwo of the Assyrian Christian hostages released by ISIS have spoken to the media about their ordeal. Some 200 Christians were taken by the Islamist group on February 23 after they stormed a number of villages in the north-east of the country. One of the hostages, going by the name ‘Peter’, told the Times: “They entered our village at five in the morning, while everyone was sleeping. Some of them were Syrians, some were Chinese, some Russian – people who didn’t speak Arabic. They took 17 men,...

They dealt with the Iranian regime first-hand more than three decades ago, when it was founded in an act of war against the U.S., and several survivors of the hostage crisis say the idea of the U.S. negotiating with an unrepentant Tehran makes their blood boil. For 444 days, the 52 Americans were held prisoner in the U.S. Embassy by the student revolutionaries that would help usher in the hard-line Islamic theocracy that remains in place today. Many of the hostage takers and guards held key roles in the Iranian government then and continue in important positions today. “I think...

Aleteia partner Aid to the Church in Need is reporting that some of the Assyrian Christians taken hostage by the Islamic State group last week have been released but that the fate of hundreds of others may depend on a Sharia court. Quoting the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ACN said 19 captives have been released—18 were from the village of Tel Goran, one of the Assyrian Christian villages in Hassake governorate taken over by the Islamist group February 23. The Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) has photos of the released captives after they arrived at St. Mary’s Church in the...

As if foreign policy couldn’t get any worse. The President Piece of Crap Maduro announced that they have captured an American pilot that was trying to topple his regime. Watch below: