Trump announces recovery of US citizen held hostage in Yemen

President Trump said Monday that a U.S. citizen held captive in Yemen for more than a year has been reunited with his family.

The president announced on Twitter that Danny Burch “has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children.”

It is my honor today to announce that Danny Burch, a United States citizen who has been held hostage in Yemen for 18 months, has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children. I appreciate the support of the United Arab Emirates in bringing Danny home…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019

…Danny’s recovery reflects the best of what the United States & its partners can accomplish.
We work every day to bring Americans home. We maintain constant and intensive diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement cooperation within the United States Government and with…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019

…our foreign partners. Recovering American hostages is a priority of my Admin, and with Danny’s release, we have now secured freedom for 20 American captives since my election victory. We will not rest as we continue our work to bring the remaining American hostages back home!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019

Trump announced Burch’s return as he traveled aboard Air Force One to Vietnam to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for their second summit on denuclearization. 

{mosads}Trump’s announcement comes after reports last month that Burch had been freed and sent to Oman after being captured by Yemeni rebels in 2017.

Burch, who worked for the Yemeni Safer oil company and is married to a Yemeni citizen, was detained in September 2017 after taking his children to school.

His wife and colleagues told news outlets that he was abducted from his car by gunmen on a busy street in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa.

Sanaa is controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels who are fighting against a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

Saudi Arabia’s main partner in the coalition is the United Arab Emirates, and, in his tweets, Trump thanked the Emiratis for helping in “bringing Danny home.”

“Danny’s recovery reflects the best of what the United States & its partners can accomplish,” Trump tweeted.

The United States supports the Saudi-led coalition with logistics, intelligence sharing and arms sales. Congress has been increasingly opposed to that support amid fury of Saudi Arabia’s killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The House this month passed a resolution to end U.S. military support to the coalition. The Senate is expected to take it up and pass it in the coming weeks.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is also scheduled to get a closed-door briefing on Yemen on Monday night from State Department and Pentagon officials.