U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to U.S. embassy and consular staff based in Australia following the conclusion of the AUSMIN meeting at Admiralty House in Sydney August 12, 2014.

A young American who has been held hostage for two years by an Islamist rebel group in Syria has been freed, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday.

“Finally he is returning home,” Kerry said in a statement, confirming the release of Theo Curtis, an American researcher, Agence France-Presse reported.

News of Curtis’s release emerged just days after Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants this week killed American journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012.

That video, together with a threat to kill another American journalist being held hostage, Steven Sotloff, inspired widespread revulsion in the West and a desire to hunt down the killer.

The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that about 20 journalists are missing in Syria. Many of them are believed to be held by ISIS.

 
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