Matthew B. Schrier is an American former photographer who escaped from al Qaeda.
Schrier is from Deer Park, New York, and attended Hofstra University, where he was an English major who also studied film production. [1] [2] [3] He entered Syria with the help of the Free Syrian Army. Schrier captured images of FSA rebels fighting forces of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. [4]
In late December 2012, Schrier was captured by Jabhat al-Nusra, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, while traveling on the road between Aleppo and the Turkish border. [5] A Jeep Cherokee cut across from the side of the road and three men jumped out. Schrier told 60 Minutes, "One of 'em was cloaked completely in black, you know, like the guys in the movies -- scarf around his face, AK-47 in his hand, and he took me out, put me in the back seat of the Cherokee and he put the barrel of the gun to the side of my head." [4] While a rookie photographer himself, [6] he was among a collection of kidnapped American journalists held by Syrian jihadis. [7] He was eventually held in a series of rebel-controlled prisons in the Syrian city of Aleppo. [8]
He strategically converted to Islam in March 2013 as a survival tactic to get better treatment, a tactic that ended up working. [1]
In July 2013 Schrier became the first Westerner to ever successfully escape from al Qaeda. Before sunrise, his cellmate Peter Theo Curtis lifted Shrier through the window, enabling Shrier to escape. Now outside of the prison, Shrier then decided his best chance of survival was to leave Curtis behind and escape alone. The men have given conflicting accounts of the escape attempt. Schrier claims that Curtis became stuck in a window and so he left him behind. Curtis claims this is a lie. He has said that Schrier failed to help him adequately and abandoned him, and he has said that he told Schrier to go for help. [8] [9] [10] [11]
His book The Dawn Prayer (Or How to Survive in a Secret Syrian Terrorist Prison): A Memoir ( ISBN 1944648887) was published on April 3, 2018.
In 2018 Shrier was featured on the National Geographic television show Locked Up Abroad in the episode 'Escape from Al Qaeda'. Curtis was not featured. [6]
In January 2020, Schrier filed a lawsuit against Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), as he claimed that they provide sponsorship for al-Qaeda. [12] [13]
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The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war from August to December 2014. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
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Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerreAbu Mohammad al-Julani, is a Syrian revolutionary militant who has served as the emir of Tahrir al-Sham since 2017. As the leader of Tahrir al-Sham, he played a key role in the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, which ultimately led to the overthrow of the Assad regime. Some sources have described him as Syria's de facto leader.
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The al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict started in late October 2014, during the Syrian Civil War, in Idlib and Aleppo governorates, during which al-Nusra attempted to establish an Islamic state rival to that of IS. Despite this, the al-Nusra Front and Free Syrian Army factions continued to cooperate in the southern Syrian governorates of Quneitra and Daraa.
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The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to July 2014. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
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The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from May to August 2016. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
Abu Khalid al-Suri, also known as Mohamed al-Bahaiya or Abu Umayr al-Shami, was a Syrian Islamist insurgent who was often affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Osama Bin Laden and the Syrian Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham. Al-Suri is also said to be a veteran, having participated in fighting in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq. He was believed to be assassinated by an ISIL suicide attack in 2014, however ISIL denied involvement in the attack or regarded it as friendly fire.
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