Report: Qatar trying to free 4 US hostages in Syria

Qatar is trying to secure the release of four other U.S. citizens who have been held hostage in Syria by armed groups, according to Reuters.

“Four other Americans who have gone missing in Syria have now been located, and Qatar is working to free them,” a source from the Persian Gulf region told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Reuters said the source declined to identify the four people and didn’t provide any further details.

{mosads}Qatar helped free U.S. journalist Peter Theo Curtis on Sunday, after al Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra held him hostage for nearly two years in Syria.

Reuters’s source said at the request of the U.S., Qatari intelligence obtained a video that showed Curtis was alive, which helped in his release.

“The kidnappers had asked for ransom, but that’s not something Qatar gets involved in,” the source told Reuters.

A State Department official told the news outlet the Obama administration has reached out to more than a dozen countries in the last two years to help secure the release of U.S. citizens in Syria.

Qatar has served as a mediator in previous hostage situations, and its efforts to free more Americans come as it rejects accusations that it backs ISIS.

After ISIS released a graphic video last week showing the beheading of U.S. journalist James Foley, Reuters noted Qatar condemned the group’s actions as “barbaric.”