US hostage freed in Syria

An American held hostage for 22 months by an Islamic rebel group in Syria was freed Sunday, just days after a video showed the slaying of a fellow US journalist at the hands of jihadists.

"Finally he is returning home," US Secretary of State John Kerry said, confirming the release of Peter Theo Curtis, a 45-year-old author and freelance journalist whose disappearance had not been previously reported.

Curtis was handed over to United Nations peacekeepers in the village of Al Rafid, Quneitra, in the Golan Heights and, after undergoing a medical checkup, was transferred to US representatives, the UN said.

News of his release came less than a week after a grisly video surfaced showing the beheading of American reporter James Foley at the hands of an Islamic State militant.