REPORT: Polish journalist abducted in Syria escaped and is home

A Polish journalist who was taken hostage by Islamist militants in northwest Syria in July managed to escape and has safely returned home, local media reported on Thursday.
   
Earlier on Thursday Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on his Twitter account that Marcin Studer was back at home.
   
The journalist was abducted from a media center in the rebel-held town of Saraqeb in Idlib province. He was working as a freelancer for Polish photo agency Studio Melon.
   
The Committee to Protect Journalists says Syria is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, with at least 39 killed and 21 kidnapped in 2012 by both rebels and government forces.
   
Most kidnapped journalists have been released, but several remain missing.

On another note, the international chemical weapons watchdog said in a document obtained by Reuters that Syria has destroyed all its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major deadline in an ambitious disarmament program.
   
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in the document its teams had inspected 21 out of 23 chemical weapons sites across the country.

The other two were too dangerous to inspect but the chemical equipment had already been moved to other sites which had been inspected, it said.
   
"The OPCW is satisfied it has verified, and seen destroyed, all declared critical production/mixing/filling equipment from all 23 sites," the document said.


REUTERS


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