Former hostage responds to top diplomat calling Al Qaeda a US ‘asset’ in Syria

Lindsey Snell, a journalist who escaped Al Qaeda captivity in Syria, responds to a top US diplomat calling the militant group “an asset” amid a media-enabled PR campaign to whitewash its image.

Amid a public relations campaign to rehabilitate the Al Qaeda franchise in Syria — which rules Idlib, Syria’s last militant-controlled province – former top US diplomat James Jeffrey has called the group a US “asset.” Lindsey Snell, an independent journalist who escaped captivity by Al Qaeda in Syria, responds.

Guest: Lindsey Snell, independent journalist covering the Middle East and North Africa. In 2016, she was kidnapped by the Al Qaeda group in Syria, what was then called al-Nusra, and escaped after 10 days.