NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his crew believed they would not make it out of Syria alive during their five days of captivity, Engel said Thursday.
"There was no doubt that these were violent people and that they could have executed us at any time," Engel told NBC News' Savannah Guthrie in an interview Thursday night on "Rock Center."
Engel, 39, and his team disappeared shortly after crossing into northwest Syria from Turkey on Dec. 13. He and his team had already been captured as his last taped report from Aleppo was appearing on "NBC Nightly News" that evening.
The network had not been able to make contact with them until learning that they had been freed Monday. The final member of the team, Ian Rivers, who provides technical support for NBC News, crossed safely from Syria into Turkey early Wednesday.
The network said there was no claim of responsibility, no contact with the captors and no request for ransom during the time the crew was missing.
After entering Syria, Engel and his team were abducted and tossed into the back of a truck before being transported to an unknown location believed to be near the small town of Ma'arrat Misrin. During their captivity, they were blindfolded and bound but otherwise were not physically harmed, the network said.
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But their captors submitted them to what Engel called "psychological torture," leading them to believe that they were doomed. From time to time, "they were making us choose which one of us would be executed," he said.
Asked whether they ever thought they were going to die, all five men raised their hands. "Every day," Engel said.
Early Monday evening local time, the prisoners were being moved to a new location in a vehicle when their captors ran into a checkpoint manned by members of the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, a Syrian rebel group. There was a confrontation, and a firefight ensued. Two of the captors were killed, while an unknown number of others escaped, the network said.
Ghazi Balkiz, an NBC News producer, said that was the most nerve-racking time of all.
"I don't want to suffer to find out that this was not really happening," he said. "That would have been devastating."
Engel and his team were unharmed. Engel and several other members of the team remained in Syria until Tuesday morning when they made their way to the border and re-entered Turkey, the network said.
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Since it was NBC, I don't believe embellishment is out of the realm of possibility.
Most Middle East folks ARE violent. That's not news.
and americans are what ? just a bunch of peace-niks????
no violence in america, what so ever, huh?????
Let‘s point our finger at “Those bad/nasty people on the Left”
Let’s shake our fist at “Those blankety- blanks on the Right”
Let’s call each other degrading ugly names and label each other “Un- American.” And the poor Libertarians don’t have a snowballs chance.
Folks, we’re each other’s neighbors. I don’t care if it’s next door, county, or state, we’re neighbors.
We’re United States citizens that I’m sure love this great and wonderful country as well as the next one, and would probably give their life along side me in defense of it.
Calling each other hurtful words while sitting behind a computer isn’t going to get anything done. EVER!
Do we all agree with each other? No, the quickest way to get ten opinions is to ask a simple question to a group of eight people.
Do we in fact have ANY common ground?? You bet we do. We have 50 states and a good number of territories filled with every imaginable combination of different people that you might possibly find anywhere on this planet. These folks including me appear by and large to be interested in the same things, a dream. An American dream, different to some, but a dream never the less.
Is it always practical? No, but then that’s the beauty of our system. We are still allowed to dream.
Do you remember the movie “To Sir, With Love” where Sydney Portier forced the class to treat each other with dignity and respect? Out of that, they learned dignity and respect for themselves.
I believe Will Rogers once said “I never met a man I didn’t like.” I would like to extend that, if I may to the ladies in our midst, without whom, we’d be in BIG trouble.
We don’t need to call each other names, we need to get something done, for our country. You know, “One nation, under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.” We’re US citizens, people, we’re better than petty squabbling. The cures, the fixes, are many and varied. Some are out of the box and some haven’t been thought of yet. That is exactly what makes us great. When there’s a problem, we don’t gnash our teeth and wring our hands, and lament the problem. We address it, we examine it closely, we figure out what makes it tick and then we come up with a solution. As a nation, united. That sounds pretty American to me.
Is it our President’s fault? How about Congress’? How about, we sent ALL of them there. Now whose fault is it? The problem lies with the hard line, intractable positions on both sides, and the un-willingness to compromise, to cut a deal, to get it done and move on to the next item on the agenda, for the good of our country.
Personally, I try to live by the thought that the majority rules, but the minority has a right to be heard. I know one thing to be the truth in politics. You cannot lead from the ideological Left or Right. You MUST lead from the center. If you go either way 40% of the people tune you out. If you go far enough either way, you lose about 2/3 of them. Rightly so, as the problems of this nation concern us all.
I would urge that all of us remember that we are “part” of a great experiment that our fore-fathers as well as all of us today envisioned and still believe in, despite our differences. May God Bless The United States of America.
Best post I have read in months. Thank you.
Grandpa, If you truly believe a leader must be centrist, you've got to dislike Obama, immensely. He was the "most liberal Senator" when elected. That according to "The Hill". Somehow I don't think he has changed, at all.
With all due respect, I don't believe anything of the sort.
I believe in the BEST that our country has to offer, not the worst.
They are idiots. You KNOW they do not like Americans. Your damn lucky to be alive, but I would NOT lose 1 seconds sleep if they did you in. Glory seekers.
There is a lot said here. People blaming people and political views to be blamed. There is no blame. These journalist went into a country that has hostiles and raw views on the world. They took their own lives into their own hands when they signed up for the job. People take jobs or apply for jobs that have interesting outcomes sometimes. No one chose the the journalistic jobs but them. They have to except the actions and the reactions that come with it. I do not feel sorry for their ideas or their trouble. I do however sympathize for the families that they are apart of. Yes terrorists are a factor involved; people that have to bother other peoples lives. That last comment goes for the government as well. I believe we meddle in other affairs that we shouldnt and it makes people angry. I do not respect people who are so called terrorist or journalist who take on a job that requires the US Governments protection military or congressional.
stomper71, You keep calling them "journalists". That would be in error. Journalists don't have an agenda, but report events in an objective manner. There is hardly a more subjective network than NBC and MSNBC, in particular.
Thank God Mr. Engle and crew are safe!! It is definitely God`s handiwork that those rebels were in that location at that particular moment. Otherwise, those men probably would not ever be seen again, dead or alive. Over the years,whenever I would see Mr. Engle on the evening news reporting amidst the bombings, etc., I would say to myself that it would be a miracle if he didn`t get himself killed. Well, I guess the miracle happened!!!
Am I the only one getting tired of these idiots. I guess now they will write their book, get a movie and embellish what really happened. I think it's time for them to do a piece on the Somalian pirates. See ya.
Screw you, you uncaring sorry example of the human race. Go back and get your beer now and tune out the world. You won't understand this response because of your low intellectual level. Pity only for you.
I'm so glad he's okay. I had a really bad feeling that something like this would happen to them (all). They were really going into dangerous areas. I don't think it's necessary to actually go there... they risk their own lives... and seriously - that should not be part of their job description / I'm sure it isn't?
I'm so glad they are okay. He's one of my favorites reporters and deserves the best.
something is missing in this story...!?
after the fight...what happened and they were liberated and who helped them to go to Turkey borders!?
they can sell any information to us that they want....I mean they tells us whatever lies they want
While it is great that Engel and his crew got out, I tend to agree with JMS 1996. Engel has tended to be a grandstanding self promoter more than responsible journalist. It is far from clear what he hoped to obtain in Syria that could not have been obtained through interviews with rebels and refugees in Turkey or in opposition camps near the border. Given the politics of his prior reportage, and the sensitivity of the Assad Regime to outside "interference," his capture should have been no surprise. And to risk sending precious American [or any other country's] troops in to "rescue" a grandstanding showman would be unreasonable and unfortunate.
How come obummer can't get a Marine out of a mexican prison then?
Strange how this guy being frightened and messing his pants gets more attention here than our Ambassador being killed. Well, maybe not so strange, this being NBC.
I hope Richard Engel gets paid well by NBC for putting himself in harms way. With his looks he could easily make more in the Hollywood movies.
I recall writing a letter to Lara Logan several years back that I was concerned about her safety in Iraq and Afghanistan around those religious freakazoids. And that she should wear a bulletproof vest which she was not. Finally she got sexually assaulted. It does not appear as if she has been back reporting from that area since then and somebody else took her place.
I also sent Lara a copy of RELIGION IS A GIGANTIC FRAUD by James Hervey Johnson. In retrospect too bad the comments on these articles nearly 99.9 percent of the time turn into religious forums gods and praying stuff. Their religions did not do them much good if they think by cutting our troops and news peoples heads off if they catch them they are going to go to heaven and obtain dozens of virgins....................
Any idiot (especially American) stupid enough to go into Syria risks the potential of being tortured and killed. Bunch of morons, make a story about that.
I recently read Engel's A Fist in the Hornet's Nest. What a great book. I an happy that Engel and his crew are safe. He goes "where no man dares to go" to bring us the truth. Thank you, Mr. Engel.
One nation under God...LOL. You people are are just plan ugly. Right/left who really cares. Stop the blame game and come together to restore this country to what it once was..the greatest nation on this earth. I cannot understand all the hate. Merry Christmas to all.
Why all the hate? Isn't it supposed to be one nation under God. Stop all the nonsense and bickering and come together to restore this nation to its rightful state, the greatest nation on this earth. If all the hate and energy on here was redirected to that task, think of what we can accomplish. Merry Christmas to ALL.
Really, is it so hard to believe that journalist (Engel and crew) would want to cover a story where 40.000 live were lost. Dont kill the messenger.
i would hope all of the reporters in the middle east speak arabic! duh!!!!
how else would they do their jobs??????
Right, Who has the balls to go into a dicey situation like Syria without knowing Arabic.
I understand it's a hard language to master with the dilects and what not, but it's not rocket sience
I once thought that being able to leave comments on a news story was a wonderful thing. Now after reading many of the comments I'm not so sure anymore. I'm no longer going to comment on anything for fear I'll be considered to be just another foul mouthed, vicious, moron. Oh, crap I just commented on something. Oh well, no more.
I doubt we would have missed their reports from Syria. Sounds a lot like it was staged to gain readership.
Honestly, all these remarks are related to this story? GWB, WMD, US elections, Afghanistan/Iraq, Hillary, Obama, Geraldo, embassy attacks, drones, (sorry, I'm tired) never mentioned. And yet, they are all in the remarks in one form or another. To the facts: A news team went where they really shouldn't have gone in the hopes of a scoop, got caught by someone, saved by someone, threatened in the process but dodged the bullet this time, and escaped. Wow, a lot of people need a life...
I was hoping they would keep Richard & his friends a little longer in Syria so i would not have to watch his BIASED reporting on what's going on in Syria. He has chosen to be on the side of the terrorists (so called freedom fighters) by entering Syria illegally.
It is always hard to be objective in reporting on a story but at least you ought to be fare. Shame on you Richard & shame you NBC NEWS
Why was this taped and not live. Brian Williams was protesting too much. We had to keep this secret. Mr.Engel did America save you or Syria? And does your employer care?