It is unclear exactly how many American captives are being held by Islamic militants in Syria. Sherif Mansour of the Committee to Protect Journalists said over the past three years Syria has consistently been the most dangerous place for journalists, with 69 killed covering the conflict.

Sherif Mansour: “There are more than 80 cases of kidnaps that we know. Many of those kidnappings were not public, were hard to track, but at least there are 20 right now that we know are kidnapped in Syria, including foreign and local journalists, many of whom in ISIS or Islamic State custody.”