US journalist Peter Theo Curtis, freed two days ago after being held captive for almost two years by al-Nusra militants in Syria, has returned home.
He was greeted by his mother in his hometown Boston late on Tuesday.
In a statement, Curtis, 45, said he was "moved beyond all words" by the people who welcomed him home.
US officials had worked with more than 12 countries to help secure his release, which comes days after a US journalist was beheaded in Syria.
On 20 August, the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria released a widely condemned video of the moments before and after the beheading of James Foley, 40, who was seized in 2012.
UK secret services are reportedly close to identifying a suspected British jihadist from the footage of that killing.
'Unspeakable tragedy'On Tuesday Curtis's mother said she was "overwhelmed with relief" after speaking to her son. She said she had immediately written to James Foley's mother, Diane.
"We've been through so much together, and I didn't want her to hear it from the media first," Nancy Curtis told ABC from her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Curtis was reportedly abducted in Turkey on his way to Syria.
The United Nations confirmed that it had facilitated his release.
It said the journalist was handed over to UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights. After an initial health check, he was then transferred to US government representatives.
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The church was "completely packed" for the James Foley memorial, reports Barbara Plett Usher
The news of Curtis's release on Sunday came as a memorial service was being held for Foley in his hometown of Rochester in New Hampshire.
Foley was abducted in November 2012. He had reported across the Middle East, working for US publication GlobalPost and other media outlets.
Who are Islamic State (IS)?
- Formed out of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in 2013, IS first captured Raqqa in eastern Syria
- By early 2014, it controlled Falluja in western Iraq
- Has since captured broad swathes of Iraq, seizing the northern city of Mosul in June
- Fighting has displaced at least 1.2 million Iraqis
- Pursuing an extreme form of Sunni Islam, IS has persecuted non-Muslims such as Yazidis and Christians, as well as Shia Muslims, whom it regards as heretics
- In July alone, IS expanded dramatically, recruiting some 6,300 new fighters largely in Raqqa, an activist monitoring group said
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