Kittleson, a 45-year-old American citizen from Wisconsin, was intercepted by a group of armed men on Saadoun Street, a central area near the Baghdad Hotel. The incident takes place in a context of extreme danger for Western journalists, exacerbated by the start of attacks against Iran on February 28.
According to the operation details, it was a highly organized action that involved at least two vehicles and attackers disguised as security guards. Following the capture, the swift intervention of the Iraqi police led to a pursuit that ended in a traffic accident in the Babil province, where one of the kidnappers' cars overturned, allowing the detention of one of the individuals involved.
Despite the police intervention, Kittleson's whereabouts remain uncertain due to conflicting reports. While some local media and the Saudi television Al-Arabiya suggest that the journalist may have been released with minor injuries, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior maintains that she remains in the hands of her captors. It is suspected that the group, possibly linked to the Shiite militia Kataeb Hezbollah, managed to transfer her to a second vehicle to flee to the southern part of the country.
Kittleson is a highly respected figure in the field of journalism, especially in Italy, where she worked for the ANSA agency for a decade. An expert in war zones and security, she actively collaborated with media outlets such as Al-Monitor, Foreign Policy, and Il Foglio. Her kidnapping underscores the drastic increase in tension in Iraq, where Shiite militias threaten revenge for US airstrikes on Iran, combined with the persistent risk of active ISIS cells in western regions.