‘Regional state’ working to secure release of Mossad-linked Israeli researcher held in Iraq

A ‘regional state’ is leading efforts to secure the release of an Israeli-Russian academic from captivity in Iraq, according to a report by Amwaj yesterday, citing senior security sources in the region.

Elizabeth Tusrkov, a doctoral researcher at Princeton University was abducted in Baghdad earlier this year in March, having travelled on a Russian passport. She was reportedly kidnapped by the Iranian-supported armed group, Kataib Hezbollah.

Despite the Israeli government’s insistence that the former Israeli soldier who worked in intelligence was “absolutely not a member of Mossad,” Iraqi news channel Al-Rabiaa TV aired footage of Tsurkov on Monday, believed to be her first appearance since her disappearance, in which she acknowledges her ties with Mossad.

Israeli Elizabeth Tsurkov, kidnapped in Iraq 7 months ago, says she was a Mossad operative tasked to establish ties with the SDF in Syria, and to sow intra-Shia strife in Iraq. pic.twitter.com/jIMGsCv55h

— Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) November 14, 2023

“My name is Elizabeth Tsurkov. I am an Israeli citizen. I worked for the Mossad and the CIA. I worked in Syria in order to establish relations between Israel and the [US-backed Kurdish proxy] the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),” Tsurkov said in the video.

“I worked in Iraq on the disunity issue to strengthen disputes by coordinating protests in Iraq. We worked on fueling tensions in order to facilitate inter-Shia clashes inside Iraq […] Currently, I’m being held captive; it’s been seven months,” she added.

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She also called for the end of the occupation’s brutal genocidal war against Gaza, which she said is “being carried out in a foolish manner” and likely to “lead to the deaths of these hostages,” she added, “If you want your sons and daughters to stay alive, the war must end,” referring to the Israeli prisoners of war held in Gaza.

Tsurkov also revealed that “so far nothing has happened,” highlighting that “From what I was told, there is no movement or progress on my release. It is important that the people of Israel know that this is the Israeli government. I have been in a complicated situation for a lengthy period.”

Reacting to the release of the video, Elizabeth’s sister Emma, who served in the occupation army’s combat engineering corps said on X “It is great news to see she is alive. The statement was clearly coerced, but we do note that she appears as well as can be expected.”

“The video seems recent. The release of this video is an important step in the effort to bring her back to us.”

Without naming the “regional state,” the outlet noted that “there are speculations that the surfacing of the video may be linked to the ongoing talks between Israel, Qatar, and western governments on the release of hostages held by Palestinian groups in Gaza.”

Gaza: call for release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli held in Iraq