Israeli journalist held by Turkey while reporting from Syria border

A member of Free Syrian Army gives some food to a Syrian refugee family

Source: Times of Israel

Roee Ruttenberg, who writes for online news site +972, reported via his iPhone that he and his camera crew had been nabbed by undercover police while reporting on the power vacuum in Syria and the Kurdish divide in the region.

Ruttenberg was being held in a police station in Ceylanpinar in Eastern Turkey, where his Israeli passport was reportedly causing problems, he wrote.

“It can’t be all that bad, since the police are letting me write this post on my iPhone while they try to figure out why I also have an Israeli passport,” he wrote.

According to his post, he had spent the last several days filming at sites along the rugged border with Syria.

Ruttenberg, 34, has worked for ABC News, CCTV (Chinese Television) News, Al Jazeera English and ZDF German Television, according to his online bio.

He wrote on Facebook that he had been held for 8 hours as of 10 p.m. Israel time, but said he thought he would be released soon, especially as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Istanbul Saturday.