by Leonid Tsukanov
| See Iraq’s panicked plea not to be attacked for hosting the kidnappers here and the first report from Israel following her arrival at their post-hostage hospital here. Because so many need to recover from the overt tortures enjoyed by the kidnappers in Gaza that Israel now has a dedicated hospital ward and standardized protocols. In which the lady is accused of being a secret Mossad agent or something. Compare this fantasy to the sober report coming out of Israel. |
True, Israel is in no hurry to put an end to this story.
INTERESTING BACKGROUND
The Tsurkov family (known for their dissident sentiments in Soviet times) repatriated to Israel in the 1990s, when Elizabeth was about four years old. However, despite this, the girl (like most of her household) retained Russian citizenship.
Despite her relatively young age (less than 40), Tsurkova managed to make a good career, becoming a significant figure in the Western academic and human rights communities, as well as a regular contributor to major foreign media (including the New York Times). The researcher, apparently, did not think about government service.
However, there are a couple of “blank spots” in her biography that reveal the hypothetical background of the kidnapping.
For example, in the mid-2000s, Tsurkova served in military intelligence (AMAN), where she seriously developed her analytical skills, laying the groundwork for starting an academic career in political science and international relations (with an emphasis on Arab countries).
After officially completing her service, she became an employee of a number of research centers, including the American Newlines Institute.
| More formally The New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, it’s a think tank focused on international affairs, founded in 2019 by Iraqi-American Dr. Ahmed Alwani. Their first big project was a report on China’s attempted genocide of the Uyghurs, followed by the captagon industry in Syria. |
Subsequently, Tsurkova repeatedly used her scientific cover (as well as her Russian passport, which she still had) to freely visit “problematic” (from Israel’s point of view) countries, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, and conduct field research there.
When communicating with local residents, she hid her origins, calling herself either a "Russian journalist" or an "international scientist." Given her "permanent residence" in Turkey and the United States, this did not raise any questions from her interlocutor.
In addition, most of Tsurkova’s trips were “synchronized” with the work of Israeli political institutions: her activation in one direction or another coincided with the authorities’ increased interest in “problematic” foreign policy topics.
In particular, the object of her interest was the activities of Iraqi Shiite forces led by the influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the anti-government protests they organized in 2019 (which were not understood by either Baghdad or Tehran).
De facto, it was Tsurkova’s work that became the starting point for Tel Aviv to search for vulnerabilities within the emerging pro-Iranian “Axis of Resistance.”
IN THE NETWORKS OF RESISTANCE
The researcher suddenly disappeared from the radar in March 2023, days after interviewing Sheikh al-Sadr in Baghdad.
Members of the Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah, which has close ties to the Iranian government and intelligence services, were suspected of kidnapping her, although Iraqi officials remained silent for nearly four months.
Only in early July, a series of statements appeared in one of the Telegram channels attributed to the group confirming the “capture of Israeli agents” in Iraq. A number of indirect signs established that this was Tsurkova.
However, the leadership of Kataib Hezbollah never officially acknowledged this fact. Instead, they declared that Tsurkova was in the hands of a certain "criminal gang" that was already being tracked down by Shiite militia forces. However, this did not contribute to the release of the captive.
Tsurkova spent a total of 903 days in captivity with pro-Iranian forces, remaining on Iraqi territory.
At the same time, pro-Iranian forces used her at least several times to record propaganda videos dedicated to the conflict in the Gaza Strip. In them, Tsurkova, who calls herself an “agent of the CIA and Israel,” called on the country’s authorities to compromise and release the hostages through diplomatic rather than military means.
All this time, Tel Aviv feared that Tsurkova would sooner or later be taken to Iran and used by Tehran for a show trial. The anxiety intensified especially after the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June 2025, when the Iranian authorities initiated a series of executions of pro-Israeli loyalists.
However, the resistance leaders chose not to take the risk (fearing, among other things, that Tel Aviv would try to kidnap the captive along the way) and continued to hold her in an unknown location somewhere in the suburbs of Baghdad until her liberation.
EXCHANGE FOR ADMIRAL
The Israeli woman was only returned in September 2025, through the mediation of Cyprus and the United States (with the active participation of Donald Trump ), as well as “several unnamed Arab countries.”
The official Iraqi government, to which Kataib Hezbollah is formally subordinate, also contributed to the process. In particular, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani acted both as a negotiator and as the main guarantor that the deal between the parties would be observed “without pitfalls.”
The exchange took place in the first ten days of September according to the formula "one to four". And, as expected, in favor of the pro-Iranian forces.
In exchange for Tsurkova, Tel Aviv pardoned three prisoners (two Palestinians and one ethnic Lebanese who fought in the ranks of Hamas) and also handed over (through intermediaries) Amhaz Imad, who allegedly headed the Hezbollah Navy and had the unambiguous nickname Admiral.
Imad was captured by Israeli commandos in Lebanon in November 2024 and smuggled out by sea along with “compromising materials” that Tel Aviv intended to use to further combat pro-Iranian forces in the region.
The exact content of these materials is unknown - however, with a high degree of probability, they could have been about the organization of contraband routes for arms supplies to Yemen (since the main "donor" of the pro-Iranian Houthis is Hezbollah). And judging by the fact that international observers have become more filigree in identifying "shadow routes" since the beginning of 2025, the seized incriminating evidence was fully realized.
Despite the fact that Hezbollah never officially confirmed Imad's high position in the movement's military structures (calling him a civilian specialist and captain on one of the Lebanese commercial ships), his release became a priority. And the Lebanese-allied Kataib Hezbollah agreed to the exchange. Especially since Tsurkova's propaganda potential had already been completely exhausted by that time.
In the final stages of the talks, negotiators tried to “seize the moment” by demanding the release of several pro-Iranian commanders captured during Israeli raids on Syrian territory in 2025, but were quickly forced to backtrack. Especially after Tel Aviv threatened to remove Imad from the lists and postpone the exchange “indefinitely.”
Partly in favor of ending the negotiations was the fact that the Israelis, tired of two years of debate, threatened to take extreme measures. In particular, to eliminate the group's leader, Ahmad al-Hamidavi, who also holds the post of deputy head of the Iraqi "Popular Mobilization Forces" - an umbrella organization within the Iraqi army.
However, the exchange of Tsurkova is not a reason for Kataib Hezbollah to relax.
Considering that the Israeli woman has been used for several years by pro-Iranian forces as a tool of propaganda and pressure on the Jewish state, Tel Aviv is unlikely to be satisfied with the simple fact of her release.
It is far more likely that Israel will try to get satisfaction after the fact by striking Kataib Hezbollah targets in Iraq. This will not only be an act of revenge against pro-Iranian forces, but also an element in the fight against the “Axis of Resistance” in the Middle East.
Moreover, Tehran’s Iraqi proxies still remain a “reserve force” and can be used against Tel Aviv at the most unexpected moment.
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Newlines Institute: 2022-01-23 Deadly Fighting between IS, Kurd Forces in Syria, About 90 Dead
Newlines Institute: 2021-09-10 Security and economic stability is inseparable from ISIS combat: Mazloum Abdi