Israel announces that one of its nationals has been held for several months by an Iraqi armed group. Academic Elizabeth Tsurkov also has Russian citizenship, which has allowed her to travel to Iraq, and previously to other countries in the region that have not signed peace agreements with Israel. The Israeli government claims that the researcher “ is alive » and that he holds Iraq « responsible for its security “.
Elizabeth Tsurkov is Israeli and she is in the hands of an armed group close to Iran. Potentially inextricable situation due to reciprocal hostility between two great regional enemies: the Islamic Republic and the Jewish State. In Jerusalem, the Prime Minister’s Office says the researcher is being held by Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iraqi Shiite militia totally aligned with Tehran’s positions. “ This case is being handled by the competent authorities in Israel “, adds the press release.
No claims yet
However, no demands have been made by this paramilitary group. And it is also the silence of the authorities in Baghdad, as in Tehran.
On social networks, the last publication of Elizabeth Tsurkov dates from March. Date she disappeared in Iraq, according to the Israeli government. PhD student at the American University of Princeton, collaborator of several think tanks in the United States, the researcher has been surveying the Middle East for years, particularly Syria, of which she is a specialist. She arrived in Baghdad in early December 2022, according to a diplomat stationed in Iraq.
Read alsoIranian Revolutionary Guards killed in Israeli raids in Syria