An Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group said Tuesday it would release a U.S. journalist abducted in Baghdad, ordering her to leave the country immediately.

Middle East news site Al-Monitor said Shelly Kittleson was a U.S. freelance journalist based in Rome who had covered several wars in the region and had contributed articles to the outlet. She was abducted on March 31.

A video purporting to show Kittleson was shared by a social media outlet close to ⁠Kataib ⁠Hezbollah on Tuesday.

Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, which, if confirmed, would be the first images of Kittleson published since her kidnapping.

In the video, a woman identifying herself as Kittleson appears standing against a ⁠plain background, speaking in English directly to the camera. Reuters could not verify when or where it ​was filmed.

Her release follows intensified efforts by ​the Iraqi government and several influential Shi'ite leaders, who applied pressure on ⁠the ‌militia ‌group to secure her freedom, ⁠a government official with ‌knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

In March 2023, ​an Israeli-Russian graduate student ⁠from Princeton University, Elizabeth Tsurkov, ⁠was kidnapped by Kataib Hezbollah militia during ⁠a research ​trip to Iraq. She was released in 2025.