UPDATE – (Politico) — NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and his production team were released today after being held captive for five days inside Syria, the network announced today.

In an interview with NBC’s Today show, Engel said the captors were members of a Shiite government militia loyal to Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad and allied with Hezbollah

This has all the potential to NOT END WELL.   We have tracked Syrian activity closely for over two years.   Currently the leader of the Syrian *resistance* is the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi al Husseini al Qurshi (a.k.a. Abu Du’a), in control of The Al Nusra Front.   Almost all of the well armed contingents associated within Syria are now various factions of al-Qaeda affiliates.   Pray for Richard Engel – Just pray….

SYRIA – Turkish media is reporting that veteran journalist Richard Engel, NBC’s chief foreign correspondent and Middle East bureau chief, and his Turkish colleague Aziz Akyavaş are currently missing in Syria.

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reports that Engel and Akyavaş haven’t been in contact with NBC News since Thursday morning.

John Cook of Gawker reports that NBC has been “asking every reporter who inquires about the report to participate in a news blackout,” but the Turkish reports “have been referenced on Twitter by Slate’s David Weigel, Michelle Malkin, former MSNBC anchor David Shuster, and hundreds of others.”  (more)