What We Know About The American Being Held By The Islamic State

By Eyder Peralta / NPR

Published October 3, 2014 at 1:57 PM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

Abdule-Rahman (formerly Peter) Kassig posing with a truck filled with supplies for Syrian refugees.

The Sunni militant group Islamic State is holding another American hostage. The revelation came in a video showing the beheading of British citizen Alan Henning.

At the end of the the video, a man warns that Peter Kassig, an Iraq War veteran, is next.

In a statement, Kassig's family confirmed that the 26-year-old was in Syria performing humanitarian work. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the U.S. had no reason to "doubt the authenticity of the video released earlier today" and that the U.S. "will continue to use every tool at our disposal — military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence — to try to bring Peter home to his family."

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With that, here's what we know about Kassig:

-- The Pentagon says Kassig served as an Army ranger from 2004 through 2007. He was deployed to Iraq once.

-- A spokesperson for the family says after receiving an honorable discharge from the Army for medical reasons, he became an emergency medical technician.

-- In 2012, he moved to Lebanon, where he worked to provide care to Palestinian refugees and in the summer of 2013, he moved to Turkey, where he provided care for Syrian refugees.

-- In October of 2013, he was working on a project in Syria for a humanitarian group he founded.

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-- He was on his way to Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria, when he was captured.

-- His family says that after his capture, Kassig converted to Islam and changed his first name to Abdul-Rahman.

"The family understands from speaking to former hostages that Kassig's faith has provided him comfort during his long captivity," the family spokesperson said.

-- In a 2012 profile on CNN, Kassig said he went to Lebanon because there's a sense that there's no hope in that area of the world.

"We each get one life and that's it. We get one shot at this and we don't get any do-overs, and for me, it was time to put up or shut up," he told CNN. "The way I saw it, I didn't have a choice. This is what I was put here to do. I guess I am just a hopeless romantic, and I am an idealist, and I believe in hopeless causes."