SANAA, Yemen -- A freelance journalist who was among several Americans held by Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen was set free Monday, as a French hostage abducted in Yemen by an unknown party appeared in a video pleading for help.
Freelance journalist Casey Coombs, 33, is stable in a hospital in Oman and is expected to return to Seattle in the coming days, said his mother, Jill Hammill. She found out Sunday that her son was being freed after being taken by rebels May 17.
"It was a miracle," she said by phone from her home in Seattle. "We didn't know if we would see him again."
She said her son suffered a back injury and is still in shock, but that he's doing well considering the ordeal.
The rebels, known as Houthis, seized Yemen's capital last year and have been the target of a U.S.-backed and Saudi-led air campaign since March 26.
Neighboring Oman mediated the deal to release Coombs, a freelance reporter working for The Intercept online news website and other publications.
Emails to the Intercept seeking comment were not immediately returned. Coombs reported in the Intercept in early May that he was having trouble leaving Yemen.
He was trying to get evacuated when he was taken by the rebels, Hammill said.
The Washington Post reported Friday that the Houthis had cleared one of four American prisoners for release.
It said three of the four held private-sector jobs, and the fourth holds dual U.S.-Yemeni citizenship.
State Department spokesman Marie Harf said the department was working to win the release of several Americans detained in Yemen.
A video, meanwhile, surfaced showing Frenchwoman Isabelle Prime, a World Bank consultant who was kidnapped in February, pleading for help.
Prime was abducted in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, along with her Yemeni translator, who was released shortly afterward. There had been no word before now on her fate.
The Houthis control the capital and much of northern Yemen, but the country is also home to a powerful local al-Qaida affiliate that has carried out attacks in Sanaa and abducted foreigners in the past to trade for ransom or imprisoned militants.
In the video, Prime appeared sitting in the desert dressed in a black robe.
She addressed French President Francois Hollande and Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi by name, saying, "Please bring me to France fast because I am really, really tired."
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said his government has verified the authenticity of the video and that it was filmed in April.
Nadal said officials from the ministry will meet with the Prime family today.
Another American, Sharif Mobley, has been held in unclear circumstances for more than five years. Terrorism charges against him were dropped by a court during the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who stepped down in 2012 after large protests.
But Mobley was never released and was accused of killing a prison guard during an escape attempt. He is now believed to be in the custody of the Houthis, who are allied with Saleh.
The Post report said the four most recently detained are among dozens of Americans who were unable to leave Yemen or who chose to remain in the country after the U.S. closed its embassy following the Houthis' capture of the capital.
The Saudi-led coalition launched its air campaign March 26 in a bid to push back the rebels and restore Hadi to power, after he fled to Saudi Arabia that month in the face of a rebel advance on the south.
But two months of bombing have done little to push back the Houthis and allied military units loyal to Saleh.
The airstrikes and ground fighting have killed more than 1,000 civilians and displaced a half-million people, according to the United Nations.
On Monday, coalition warplanes bombed the capital, targeting weapons depots in nearby Noqoum mountain. Heavy smoke rose from the mountain as explosions rocked the area.
Information for this article was contributed by Sylvie Corbet and Matthew Lee of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/02/2015