Canada says citizen may have been captured in Syria

OTTAWA - Canada is trying to confirm reports that a Canadian citizen has been captured in Syria, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

"Canada is pursuing all appropriate channels" to seek further information and is in touch with local authorities, the spokesman said in a statement.

Israeli media reports, including Haaretz newspaper quoting a website associated with Islamic State, said a Canadian-Israeli woman, Gil Rosenberg, has been captured. The reports cited jihadist websites and have not been confirmed by Israeli officials.

"I cannot confirm that and I hope that it isn't true," Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon told an Israeli television channel when asked about the reports.

Rosenberg, 31, said that she was in Syria in November. A source linked to the YPG, the Kurds' dominant fighting force in northern Syria, said earlier this month that she was their first female foreign recruit and had crossed into Syria to fight Islamic State militants.