A Hostage in a Shadow War

Elizabeth Tsurkov, 36, is believed to have been abducted in Baghdad in March. A dual citizen of both Russia and Israel, Tsurkov was in Iraq conducting research for her doctoral thesis at Princeton University. She likely used her Russian passport to enter Iraq, due to its mutual hostility with Israel.

Reports on her current whereabouts are murky: London-based Arabic news outlet Al-Sharq Al-Awsat has reported that some sources assert she is being held in Iraq by the Iranian-backed Shiite militia Kataeb Hezbollah (an Iraqi group distinct from the Lebanese terror organization), and others say she has been transferred to Iran.

Al-Sharq Al-Awsat quotes Iraqi government officials to the effect that Tsurkov’s kidnappers aim to use her as leverage for the release of Iranian operative Yousef Shahbazi Abbasalilo, whom Israel had apprehended in June for planning attacks on Israeli citizens in Cyprus. The Israeli government has so far remained silent these claims. But because Tsurkov’s abduction preceded Abbasalilo’s apprehension by three months, her kidnappers’ original intentions remain unclear.

Tsurkov’s various international affiliations weave together to create an unprecedented diplomatic scenario: a Russian-Israeli woman, in the midst of pursuing doctoral studies at an American university, taken captive in Iraq by a militia closely linked to the Iranian government.