Oct 9, 2008 3:29 pm US/Central
Syria Frees Detained U.S. Journalists
Taylor Luck, Holli Chmela Accused Of Entering Syria Illegally From Lebanon
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) ―
The State Department says two American journalists who were detained by Syrian authorities have been released and are safe at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus.
A department spokesman said Thursday that the two journalists are in good condition and getting in touch with their families after being picked up while allegedly trying to illegally cross into Syria from neighboring Lebanon.
Their disappearance earlier this month prompted the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to appeal for information about their whereabouts.
The pair worked for the English-language Jordan Times in Amman. They were reported missing by their families after they failed to return to Amman last weekend from a vacation in Lebanon. They last had been heard from on Oct. 1.
Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23, who is from Oak Park, were detained after they crossed into the country, the Syrian foreign ministry said. It said the two will be handed over to the U.S. Embassy following a completion of "necessary measures."
An official with the U.S. Embassy in Damascus confirmed two Americans are being held by Syrian authorities and added that the embassy was trying to confirm their identities.
The embassy official spoke on condition of anonymity according to embassy regulations and refused to give further details because of rules of preserving privacy.
Smugglers are known to be active on the Lebanon-Syria border where they use unpaved mountainous roads to bring goods to both countries. Gangs are also known to smuggle people, mainly workers looking for jobs in Lebanon.
The U.S. Embassy in Beirut announced Wednesday the two went missing during a vacation in Lebanon and have not been heard from since Oct. 1, when they headed to northern Lebanon en route to Syria.
The embassy said Chmela and Luck were reportedly headed for the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city where militants and Islamic fundamentalists are known to be active.
U.S. Embassy in Beirut earlier this week warned its citizens about potential violent actions targeting Americans in Lebanon and called on them to be more watchful. It said the threats were particularly high in the first half of October.
Chmela and Luck arrived in Lebanon on Sept. 29 from the Jordanian capital of Amman on vacation. They told a friend on Oct. 1 that they were traveling from Beirut to Tripoli through the coastal town of Byblos that day, the U.S. embassy said.
From Tripoli, they planned to cross by land into Syria, it added.
Luck, of Oak Park, Illinois, has been a reporter at the Jordan Times for the past 18 months. He graduated last year from Beloit College in Wisconsin as an international relations major but also studied Arabic, the school's public affairs director Ron Nief said. He said the college awarded Luck a grant to return to Jordan for study.
Chmela worked as a clerk for The New York Times in Washington before leaving this year to study Arabic in Jordan, according to Times' Bureau Chief Dean Baquet. In a memo to staff about the disappearance, he said she later took an internship with the Jordan Times.
She worked as an intern at the English-language daily for three months before leaving the job several weeks ago, the paper's chief editor, Samir Barhoumeh, said.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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