Yazigi disappeared on April 22, 2013 in Syria after he was kidnapped along with archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church. The two men worked in Aleppo. Their driver was shot and killed in the attack. The two men were kidnapped in the village of Kfar Dael by "a terrorist group" on the road to Aleppo from the rebel-held border with Turkey at Bab al Hawa. Ibrahim went to get Yazigi because he was familiar with the border crossing and the route. The name of the driver killed was Fathallah Kabud. Bishop Ibrahim went to the border to receive two priests who had been kidnapped: Armenian Catholic Michel Kayal and Greek Orthodox Isaac Moawad. Money was paid for the priests on April 19, but Ibrihim did not receive the priests that day, and they asked him to return. Ibrahim was experienced with negotiating kidnapping releases. In the year before his kidnapping, he participated in 20 successful hostage exchanges. 