WASHINGTON — A Marine veteran temporarily detained by a U.S.-backed anti-ISIS militia group crossed the border into Iraq, according to his friends and family.

Video was posted to Facebook on Saturday of Kevin Howard getting into a boat bearing flags of the Kurdistan regional government. A friend of the vet said the video was given to him by the Syriac Military Council, or MFS.

“Kevin crossed into Iraq a few days ago and no one has heard from him since,” his brother, Sam Schauer, told Military Times. “I know my brother is a smart, tough, resourceful man, and I have every confidence we will hear from him soon.”

Howard and another volunteer Taylor Hudson, an American citizen and veteran of the French Foreign Legion, were both temporarily detained by the MFS last Tuesday.

The lesser known MFS is comprised predominately of Syriac Christians and falls under the larger banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a group backed by the U.S. military to defeat ISIS in Syria.

MFS has continued to claim the two Americans were never held against their will, despite the fact the group maintained control of their passports. MFS told Military Times it is custom for the group to maintain passports of foreign fighters in a safe for secure keeping.

Hudson remains in Syria but is not currently detained, according to friends and family, and has yet to cross the Iraqi border.

Late last week the former French Foreign Legion veteran told Military Times his passport was confiscated by the MFS after one its fighters raided a house he was staying in on Saturday. Hudson was freed from the group on Wednesday after agreeing to sign a statement releasing him from their command.

MFS denied those claims and said Hudson was very problematic for MFS when he worked with the group.

Military Times has not been able to reach Hudson since Saturday. Jeanette Carlisle, a friend of both Howard and Hudson, told Military Times that Hudson got back his passport after a social media campaign from friends targeted MFS demanding the passport to be returned.

“I am living with my heart in my throat waiting to hear that my son is safe,” Hudson’s mom, Laurie Fleury, told Military Times.

There has been no communication with Howard since Thursday around 1:48 a.m. Central Daylight Time, and the last known sighting of the former Marine was the video provided by MFS of Howard getting into a boat to cross into Iraq.

Many former volunteers with the SDF and People’s Protection Units, or YPG — the Kurdish dominated faction of the SDF — have told Military Times that it is common for foreign volunteers to get arrested at the Iraqi border.

It can take several days to contact the U.S. consulate in Irbil, Iraq, after a volunteer is arrested by security forces with the Kurdistan regional government, a YPG volunteer told Military Times.

Dozens of friends of Howard and Hudson have spent the last week blasting senators and the consulate in Irbil about the predicament of the two American citizens.

“It’s been heartwarming for me to see all his friends, mostly people he knew in the Corps, come to his aid by writing senators and rattling government cages,” Howard’s brother said.

The case has recently stoked the interests of two senators. According to Carlisle, she received a phone call from Virginia state Senator Richard Black, R-Virginia, about Howard’s situation.

Black told Carlisle that he had spoken with MFS and that the militant group had told him Howard was originally detained for committing a crime, according to Carlisle’s recollection of the conversation.

But MFS told Military Times it had never spoken to Black.

MFS previously told Military Times Howard was held briefly for having an undisciplined attitude and not for committing a crime.

Black’s interest in Howard’s case is peculiar given the senator has drawn criticism for what many see as support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. The senator met with Assad last year and defended the Syrian dictator from accusations that he carried out a chemical attack, according to a report from WUSA9.

Military Times has reached out to Black’s office for comment and have yet to receive an official response.

Republican Texas Senator John Cornyn’s office now also appears to be involved in the issue. Military Times has received copies of letters from the senator’s office addressed to friends seeking help for the missing Marine.

Military Times will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.


Shawn Snow is the senior reporter for Marine Corps Times and a Marine Corps veteran.

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