In December 2013, pro-opposition websites said that Zaitouneh was kidnapped along with her husband, Wael Hamadeh, and two colleagues, Samira Khalil and Nazem Hammadi, in the opposition-held town of Douma to the north of Damascus. As of 4 February 2014, their location was still unknown. The identity of the kidnappers was not certain, although they were suspected to be from the Islamist rebel group the Army of Islam.