• U.S.-backed forces liberate key city from ISIS, freeing 2,000 hostages

    U.S.-backed forces liberate key city from ISIS, freeing 2,000 hostages

    Aug 13, 2016 03:35 PM EST

    U.S.-backed rebel forces have captured the city of Manbij from the Islamic State, whose grip on the city lasted two years but faltered after months of fighting.

  • Cameroon, Nigeria join forces to free Boko Haram hostages

    Cameroon, Nigeria join forces to free Boko Haram hostages

    Mar 01, 2016 12:33 AM EST

    ... GWEN IFILL: Finally, Nick, for many Americans, the last thing they heard about this question of Boko Haram's strength in Nigeria has centered around hostage-taking, specifically about those Chibok girls. Where does this stand now? We keep hearing that thousands of hostages have been released, but not so ...

  • Why it took 36 years to compensate Iran hostage victims

    Why it took 36 years to compensate Iran hostage victims

    Dec 25, 2015 01:30 AM EST

    ... GWEN IFILL: The Iran hostage crisis was one of the defining moments of the 1970s, and it fractured a relationship between two nations that has never healed. Now, 36 years after it began, the former hostages are finally getting compensation. It was November 4, 1979. The U.S. Embassy ...

  • Mother of slain journalist wants U.S. to review hostage policy

    Mother of slain journalist wants U.S. to review hostage policy

    Nov 17, 2015 08:20 PM EST

    WASHINGTON — The mother of American journalist James Foley, who was publicly beheaded in August 2014 by the Islamic State, says her family felt abandoned by the American government. She wants to see a review of the U.S. hostage policy. Testifying at a House hearing, Diane Foley of Rochester, New ...

  • Pentagon: 1 U.S. service member killed in Iraq hostage rescue

    Pentagon: 1 U.S. service member killed in Iraq hostage rescue

    Oct 22, 2015 03:54 PM EST

    ... statement: Early today in Iraq, at the request of the Kurdistan Regional Government, U.S. Special Operations Forces supported an Iraqi Peshmerga operation to rescue hostages at an ISIL prison near Hawijah, Iraq. This operation was deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution ...

  • News Wrap: Islamic State leader raped hostage Kayla Mueller

    News Wrap: Islamic State leader raped hostage Kayla Mueller

    Aug 14, 2015 11:03 PM EST

    ... death in the past, none have been confirmed. We apologize for the error. JUDY WOODRUFF: There's word of a new atrocity against an American hostage by the Islamic State group. The parents of Kayla Mueller said today that U.S. intelligence confirms she was repeatedly raped before her death ...

  • Refusing to pay ransom won’t stop kidnapping, says former hostage

    Refusing to pay ransom won’t stop kidnapping, says former hostage

    Jun 24, 2015 11:27 PM EST

    ... kind of thing. But I think, if hostage-takers and the guards in particular were losing their lives on a consistent basis whenever they catch hostages, that would get the word out a lot more quickly. But that's different from saying that I think that every hostage case should ...

  • Shifting policy, Obama pledges U.S. will ‘stand by’ families of hostages

    Shifting policy, Obama pledges U.S. will ‘stand by’ families of hostages

    Jun 24, 2015 11:25 PM EST

    ... JUDY WOODRUFF: After coming under fire over the handling of American hostage cases abroad, President Obama today announced a change in policy. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We're not going to abandon you. We will stand by you. JUDY WOODRUFF: The president's pledge to hostage families follows a surge ...

  • With policy shift, hostage family hopes to be last 'that fails to receive’ government support

    With policy shift, hostage family hopes to be last 'that fails to receive’ government support

    Jun 24, 2015 07:29 PM EST

    ... American citizens working abroad as hostages do not discriminate based on their job or employer, and neither should our government.” While calling the newly created Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell a “good idea” she said the person with sole responsibility for safe hostage recovery policies would be better positioned at the ...

  • Obama clears the way for hostages' families to pay ransom

    Obama clears the way for hostages' families to pay ransom

    Jun 24, 2015 12:37 PM EST

    WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the U.S. government had let down the families of Americans held hostage by terrorists, and he outlined new policies that could make it easier for those families to pay ransom to help free their loved ones. "These families have already suffered enough ...