Mission launched to find body of Peter Kassig, Indianapolis native killed by Islamic State
Islamic State, which controlled swaths of Syria and Iraq at the peak of its power from 2014 to 2017, beheaded numerous people in captivity, including aid worker Peter Kassig, and released videos of the killings.
Qatar's international search and rescue group began the search Wednesday, accompanied by several Americans, the sources said. The group, deployed by Doha to earthquake zones in Morocco and Turkey in recent years, had so far found the remains of three bodies, the sources said.
A Syrian security source said the remains had yet to be identified. The second source said it was unclear how long the mission would last.
The U.S. State Department had no immediate comment.
The Qatari mission gets under way as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to visit Doha and other Gulf Arab allies next week and as Syria's ruling Islamists, close allies of Qatar, seek relief from U.S. sanctions.
The Syrian source said the mission's initial focus was on looking for the body Kassig, who was killed by Islamic State in 2014 in Dabiq in northern Syria. The second source said Kassig's remains were among those they hoped to find.
In a statement, the Kassig family said it was waiting for analysis seeking to confirm the identities of the dead.
"We are grateful to all those who are involved in the effort to get these deceased individuals' remains identified and returned to their home countries and loved ones," the statement said.
Kassig was the only child of Ed and Paula Kassig and grew up in Broad Ripple, graduating from North Central High School in 2006. He served in the Army before being honorably discharged.
The Hoosier said he "found his calling" on a visit to Lebanon in 2012, where began by volunteering at a refugee hospital. He also founded an aid organization.
Kassig was captured by Islamic State militants during a humanitarian mission to Syria in 2013. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul-Rahman while in captivity. In November 2014, he was killed.
U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were among other Western hostages killed by Islamic State. Their deaths were confirmed in 2014. U.S. aid worker Kayla Mueller was also killed in Islamic State captivity. Her death was confirmed in 2015.
"We're grateful for anyone taking on this task and risking their lives in some circumstances to try and find the bodies of Jim and the other hostages," said Diane Foley, James Foley's mother. "We thank all those involved in this effort."
The jihadists were eventually driven out of their self-declared caliphate by a U.S.-led coalition and other forces.
Plans for the Qatari mission were discussed during a visit to Washington in April by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and the Minister of State for the foreign ministry, Mohammed Al Khulaifi — a trip also designed to prepare for Trump's visit to Qatar, one of the sources said.
Another person familiar with the issue said there had been a longstanding commitment by successive U.S. administrations to find the remains of the murdered Americans, and that there had been multiple previous "efforts with U.S. government officials on the ground in Syria to search very specific areas."
The person did not elaborate. But the U.S. has had hundreds of troops deployed in northeastern Syria that have continued pursuing the remnants of Islamic State.
The person said the remains of Kassig, Sotloff and Foley were most likely in the same general area, and that Dabiq had been one of Islamic State's "centerpieces" — a reference to its propaganda value as a place named in an Islamic prophecy.
Two Islamic State members, both former British citizens who were part of a cell that beheaded American hostages, are serving life prison sentences in the United States.
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who seized power from Bashar al-Assad in December, battled Islamic State when he was the commander of another jihadist faction — the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front — during the Syrian war.
Sharaa severed ties to al Qaeda in 2016.
IndyStar contributed. Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Erin Banco; writing by Tom Perry.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Peter Kassig's body sought a decade after Islamic State killed him
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
2 hours ago
- Axios
Trump-Epstein saga splinters the Murdoch empire
Rupert Murdoch's media empire is playing both sides of the Trump- Epstein scandal, breaking bombshell news with one hand and largely ignoring it with the other. Why it matters: The Wall Street Journal's scoop about Trump's alleged letter to Jeffrey Epstein drew national headlines — just not on Fox News. The divergence underscores how Murdoch's dual media arms serve different audiences, but the same bottom line. Driving the news: President Trump is suing the Journal and Murdoch himself and has expressed frustration with the conservative media mogul over the Epstein coverage. But there seems to be little he can do to stop one of the most unique and successful business strategies in media. In the years since Trump first took office in 2017, News Corp.'s stock has more than doubled. Shares of Fox Corp., which began trading independently in 2019 after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox, have surged 39%. Zoom in: For Trump, Murdoch's loyalty to his business goals has been both helpful and harmful. On one hand, Trump's symbiotic relationship with Fox News has been a key tenet of his campaign and governing strategy. On the other, he hasn't gotten a pass on critical reporting from the Journal. A Fox spokesperson directed Axios to its coverage of the Epstein files more broadly. In the examples Fox shared, the few that mentioned the Journal scoop focused on Trump's lawsuit or claims that the letter was fake. The Wall Street Journal did not respond to a request for comment. WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker previously told Axios the Journal is "used to being gaslit by CEOs and people in power in response to its journalism." Yes, but: Trump has limited options to punish Murdoch for reporting he doesn't like. Because Fox News isn't a broadcast network, there are few regulatory levers the president can pull to retaliate when it does occasionally step out against him. And because of the Trump administration's reliance on the network for messaging to a broad swath of conservative Americans, urging the MAGA base to quit the network wouldn't be beneficial. News Corp. does occasionally require regulatory approval for small deals, but none of them have been big enough to fundamentally disrupt its business if Trump were to come after the company. While a majority of Republicans get their news from Fox, the Journal is read by both sides of the aisle, according to a recent Pew survey. Reality check: For Murdoch, one of the most successful foreign-born businessmen in American history, this power dynamic works in his favor.
3 hours ago
In Syria's Sweida, the stench of death still lingers days after sectarian bloodshed
SWEIDA, Syria -- The stench of decaying bodies hangs heavy in the streets of the provincial capital in Syria's southern province of Sweida, where fighting recently erupted. Once bustling roads now lie eerily silent, with only a few people passing by. In some areas, the destruction is overwhelming, with buildings and cars charred black. At a bank branch, shattered glass covered the floor as an alarm blared nonstop. Walls are emblazoned with slogans graffitied by both sides in the recent conflict. The devastation came after violent clashes broke out two weeks ago, sparked by tit-for-tat kidnappings between armed Bedouin clans and fighters from the Druze religious minority. The fighting killed hundreds of people and threatened to unravel Syria's fragile postwar transition. Syrian government forces intervened, ostensibly to end the fighting, but effectively sided with the clans. Some government fighters reportedly robbed and executed Druze civilians. Associated Press journalists from outside the city were able to enter Sweida on Friday for the first time since the violence started on July 13. With a ceasefire largely holding, residents of Sweida are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. At the main hospital, where bodies of those killed in the fighting were piled up for days, workers were scrubbing the floor, but the smell lingered. Manal Harb was there with her wounded 19-year-old son, Safi Dargham, a first-year engineering student, who was shot while volunteering at the overwhelmed hospital. 'Snipers hit him in front of the hospital,' she said. 'We are civilians and have no weapons.' Safi sustained injuries to his elbow, behind his ear, and his leg. Harb says he may lose his arm if he doesn't receive urgent treatment. Harb's husband, Khaled Dargham, was killed when armed men stormed their home, shot him, and set the house on fire. She said the armed men also stole their phones and other belongings. An emergency room nurse who gave only her nickname, Em Hassib ("mother of Hassib"), said she had remained in the hospital with her children throughout the conflict. She alleged that at one point, government fighters who were brought to the hospital for treatment opened fire, killing a police officer guarding the hospital and wounding another. The AP could not independently verify her claim. She said the bodies had piled up for days with no one to remove them, becoming a medical hazard. Disturbing videos and reports from Sweida surfaced showing Druze civilians being humiliated and executed during the conflict, sometimes accompanied by sectarian slurs. After a ceasefire took hold, some Druze groups launched revenge attacks on Bedouin communities. The U.N. has said more than 130,000 people were displaced by the violence. Government officials, including interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, have promised to hold accountable those who targeted civilians, but many residents of Sweida remain angry and suspicious. The Druze religious sect is an offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. There are roughly a million Druze worldwide and more than half of them live in Syria. The others live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights — which Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. The Druze largely welcomed the fall of former President Bashar Assad in December in a rebel offensive that ended decades of autocratic rule by the Assad dynasty. However, the new government under al-Sharaa, a former Islamist commander who once had al-Qaida ties, drew mixed reactions from Druze leaders. Some clerics supported engaging with the new leadership, while others, including spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri and his Sweida Military Council, opposed him. Al-Sharaa has denied targeting the Druze and blamed the unrest on armed groups defying state authority, particularly those loyal to al-Hijri. He also accused Israel of deepening divisions by striking Syrian forces in Sweida, attacks that were carried out under the pretext of defending the Druze. Talal Jaramany, a 30-year-old Druze resort owner, took up arms during the fighting. 'What pushed me to put on a military uniform and go to the front lines is that what happened was lawless,' he told The Associated Press. Jaramany insisted there was little distinction between the Bedouin clans and the government's General Security forces. 'They used weapons, not dialogue,' he said. He rejects calls for disarmament, saying the Druze need their weapons for self-defense. 'We won't hand over our arms. Our weapon is sacred," he said. "It's not for attacking. We've never been supporters of war. We'll only give it up when the state provides real security that protects human rights." Members of Sweida's Christian minority were also caught up in the violence. At a church where a number of Christian families were sheltering, 36-year-old Walaa al-Shammas, a housewife with two children, said a rocket struck her home on July 16. 'Had we not been sheltering in the hallway, we would've been gone," she said. "My house lies in destruction and our cars are gone.' Gunmen came to the damaged house later, but moved on, apparently thinking it was empty as the family hid in the hallway, she said. In recent days, hundreds of people — Bedouins as well as Druze and Christians — have evacuated Sweida in convoys of buses carrying them to other areas, organized by the Syrian Red Crescent. Others have found their own way out. Micheline Jaber, a public employee in the provincial government in Sweida, was trying to flee the clashes last week with her husband, in-laws and extended family members when the two cars they were driving in came under shelling. She was wounded but survived, along with her mother-in-law and the young son of one of her husband's siblings. Her husband and the rest of the family members who were fleeing with them were killed. Someone, Jaber doesn't know who, loaded her and the other two survivors in a car and drove them to an ambulance crew, which evacuated them to a hospital outside of the city. She was then taken to another hospital in the southwestern city of Daraa, and finally transported to Damascus. She's now staying with friends in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana, her arms encased in bandages. 'When the shell hit the car, I came out alive — I was able to get out of the car and walk normally,' Jaber said. 'When you see all the people who died and I'm still here, I don't understand it. God has His reasons.' The one thing that comforts her is that her 15-year-old daughter was with her parents elsewhere at the time and was not harmed. 'My daughter is the most important thing and she is what gives me strength,' Jaber said.
Indianapolis Star
3 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Jon Stewart warned comedians get 'sent away first.' Now it's happening.
'Go f--- yourself.' That was just one of the many 'witticisms' Stephen Colbert had for President Donald Trump and his "Late Show" audience on July 21, his first since breaking the news the show was coming to an end. Not in a year. Not after a farewell tour. Next May. No replacement. No streaming continuation. Yes, CBS made what it called an "agonizing" business decision to cancel the most-watched show at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT, just days after Colbert mocked the network's parent company for a $16 million payout to Trump. Colbert thanked CBS but also criticized its anonymous leak to the New York Post that the show loses between $40 million and $50 million a year amid falling ratings and advertising for late-night TV shows. On the one hand, you have those arguing this is simply a case of corporate cost cutting and media evolving. While others are raising the alarm this is a political decision disguised as a financial one. Both can be – and are – true at the same time. Before Colbert called his bosses' bosses' settlement with Trump a 'big fat bribe," his "Late Show" monologues have taken direct aim – nightly – at authoritarianism, misinformation, corporate cowardice and Trump for nearly a decade. One could even argue that he owes his success to Trump, because during his initial months at 'Late Show,' Colbert faltered in the ratings. In 2017, however, he began to see a surge of success as he got to mock Trump 1.0 in his monologues. Soon his show was No. 1 in late night, a ranking it held for nine straight TV seasons while simultaneously racking up 33 consecutive Emmy nominations. Colbert became a go-to voice for Trump-resistant Americans who enjoyed their political despair with a side of satire. In many ways, he took up the mantle left by his old boss, Jon Stewart, offering comedic catharsis in chaotic times. Despite this context, CBS claimed the decision to cancel was purely financial and 'not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.' According to the company, the show had become too expensive to produce amid shrinking ad revenues and changing viewer habits. Opinion: Critics said Trump would ruin America. Six months in, he's proving them wrong. CBS is not wrong: Late-night advertising has by some estimates dropped by half since 2018. Anecdotally, I watch a lot of late-night viral clips on my phone, but I can't tell you the last time I watched any late-night television live on my television. But not everyone's buying the "it's just business" line. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, called for scrutiny while Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, who taped the July 17 show when Colbert broke the news, echoed the concern. The Writers Guild of America issued a statement suggesting the move raises 'significant concerns' about political retribution. There are countless scathing opinion columns, letters to the editor and social media posts containing similar sentiments. Meanwhile, Trump gloated. He posted on Truth Social, "I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next." CBS is just one part of a massive merger between Paramount Global and Skydance. After Colbert's cancelation, the deal received approval from the Federal Communications Commission. The chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, was appointed by Trump. If you need a clue about whether his loyalties lie with the Constitution or the current occupant of the White House, Carr swapped out an American flag lapel pin for a gold medallion in the shape of Trump's profile just months ago. When corporations' incentives line up so conveniently with silencing dissent, we should be alarmed. Because both things can be true: The economics of late-night television, and the cultural influence of it, has been changing. And the timing of the settlement combined with the end of the "Late Show" is deeply concerning. Here is how it appears: The Trump administration made it clear that certain media deals wouldn't get approved unless certain broadcasting decisions were made. That would be the government using its power to punish dissent and influence private business decisions in order for political favor. In his 2022 Mark Twain Prize acceptance speech, Jon Stewart warned, 'When a society is under threat, comedians are the ones who get sent away first. It's just a reminder to people that democracy is under threat. Authoritarians are the threat to comedy, to art, to music, to thought, to poetry, to progress, to all those things.' That's the part that should concern us. The question isn't what happens to Colbert (he will be fine). It's what happens to us: the audience, the public, the people who depend on sharp, fearless voices to cut through the fog. Opinion: Public media funding cuts create fair competition for local news in Indiana The federal government defunded NPR and PBS. Now one of the most popular comedians on television is being nudged off the air. At what point do we stop calling this "just a business decision" and start calling it slow, strategic silencing? Because when cost cutting trims away the voices willing to laugh at power in real time, what's really being cut is dissent. And if that's not political, then what is?
