Latest ISIS Captive Is Peter Kassig, Former U.S. Soldier

Posted 2014-10-04 05:30 by Grunt Report

In the latest video released by extremist militant group the Islamic State, a masked jihadi identifies a young American aid worker and former solider as the most recent hostage.

White House officials and the man’s family on Friday confirmed he was U.S. citizen Peter Kassig.

“We can confirm that U.S. citizen Peter Kassig is being held by ISIL,” said NSC Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden, using the White House’s preferred acronym for the Islamic State. “At this point we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video … we will continue to use every tool at our disposal — military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence -– to try to bring Peter home to his family.

Kassig, reportedly a former U.S. Army Ranger who served in the Iraq War, is seen kneeling in a desert setting donning the orange jumpsuit shown in previous hostage videos. The masked militant threatens to behead Kassig, directing this message to President Obama: “We continue to strike the necks of your people.”

No information on Kassig’s abduction had been released to the media prior to the posting of the video, which shows the killing of British aid worker Alan Henning. But two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had confirmed that Kassig was being held by ISIS. The officials declined to elaborate, the Associated Press reported.

Peter Kassig’s family say he was taken Oct. 1, 2013 near Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, according to the BBC’s Middle East Bureau Chief Paul Danahar. They have maintained silence at the wish of those who have held their son, Danahar reports.

“The Kassig family extends our concern for the family of Alan Henning,” the family said in a statement. “We have read about his work and his generous character with great respect and admiration. We ask everyone around the world to pray for the Henning family, for our son, and for the release of all innocent people being held hostage in the Middle East and around the globe.”

Kassig served in Iraq in 2007 before going on to become a certified emergency medical technician. He later volunteered in Lebanon, providing medical aid during a temporary trip to the region.

Before his capture, he was known to be working as an aid worker as part of an organization he had founded that delivered medical supplies to conflict zones in the Middle East.

In a 2012 interview with CNN, Kassig described why he became an aid worker.

“I am not a doctor,” he said. “I am not a nurse. But I am a guy who can clean up bandages, help clean up patients, swap out bandages, help run IVs, make people’s quality of life a little bit better. This is something for me that has meaning, that has purpose.”

According to SERA’s website, Kassig founded the organization in 2012. The “medically-oriented emergency relief organization” focuses on providing assistance to refugee populations and internally displaced persons in Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

Kassig had decided to volunteer in the dangerous region and work directly with the population of Syria to bring assistance to those in need, he said on a fundraising page for his group.

“I am a veteran of the Iraq war who is living in Beirut working to provide relief for refugees of the Syrian crisis. When I first started this cause to help those in need, I was on my own but I saw first hand the shortages in available resources and supplies for people who were suffering in Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey as a result of the violence…This is what led me to create SERA, an organization which is designed to be a front line, grassroots NGO that works directly with the populations it serves..and we need YOUR help. I felt that more could be done to help people and that the most effective way to bring assistance was through a close connection to those who were in desperate need, by meeting them where they were. I also felt that through a personal relationship and a small yet efficient organization, I could offer people a high level of transparency and integrity in the ways I used funding and the activities that SERA engages in to help people.”

We may not have much but I have always felt that the reasons why you do something are as important as what you do. This is about making a difference not just through material goods, but also the exchange of ideas and experiences that the international community benefits from through this type of initiative.

As of Friday, SERA has temporarily ceased operations “due to the present security situation in Syria,” according to its website.

Representatives of the organization could not be reached for comment.

Additional reporting by Brian Ries.

SOURCE: Mashable
BY: Megan Specia