various armed groups, a Gulf source familiar with the matter said on
Monday.
This comes a day after the Gulf Arab state's diplomacy helped free a
journalist held since 2012.
The source declined to name the four or provide details, and Reuters
could not independently verify the assertion, but his account was
broadly supported by other sources.
The reported initiative by Qatar coincides with an effort by the tiny
state to rebut accusations by some of its Arab neighbours and Western
politicians that it supports the most anti-Western militant armed
groups in Iraq and Syria. Those allegations followed months of
criticism by human rights groups over its treatment of Asian guest
workers and charges - denied by Doha - of corruption in its successful
bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
The wealthy country, which does back some rebel factions fighting to
oust Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, has mediated the release of
foreign and Syrian captives on several occasions in the course of
Syria's three-year-old civil war.
Its latest foray into hostage diplomacy brought Sunday's release of
Peter Theo Curtis, an American held for nearly two years by al-Nusra
Front, an affiliate of al Qaeda.
"Four other Americans who have gone missing in Syria have now been
located, and Qatar is working to free them," the Gulf source told
Reuters on condition of anonymity. He said the hostages were being
held by "various groups" but declined to give details.
Qatar's foreign ministry declined to comment.
A Doha-based source close to the Qatari Government said without
elaborating that Washington was working with Qatar to try to free a
number of U.S. hostages in Syria.
A rebel commander in Syria reached by Skype from Beirut told Reuters
that Qatar was continuously trying to secure the release of captives
of all nationalities.
Under a policy of international self-promotion, Qatar has for years
also played peace broker in disputes from Somalia to Lebanon, and has
irritated conservative neighbors by supporting Arab Spring revolts and
bankrolling Islamist influence.
Qatar this week argued its aims in the region were peaceful and
humanitarian, issuing a statement condemning what it called Foley's
"barbaric" murder.
Qatari Foreign Minister, Khaled al-Attiyah, said earlier this year his
country's mediation had secured the release in March of 13 Greek
Orthodox nuns after more than three months of being held by Islamist
fighters. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
identified the rebels who took the nuns as the Nusra Front.
Before that, Qatar helped win the release of 11 Lebanese Shi'ites in
October 2013 after 17 months in captivity in Syria.
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