Israel introduced on Wednesday that Princeton College doctoral candidate Elizaveta Tsurkova has been taken hostage in Iraq by the Shi’ite militia Kataib Hezbollah. Tsurkova used her Russian passport to journey for “educational analysis,” PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned.
Tsurkova has been “lacking for a number of months” however continues to be alive, Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned, including that Israel holds Iraq accountable for her destiny and security.
A diplomatic supply talking to Jerusalem Put up “categorically denied” that the lady was a Mossad agent or that her journey to Iraq was on “any official Israeli enterprise.” The supply mentioned Israel was doing “all it might probably” via a number of diplomatic channels to make sure her launch.
West Jerusalem would have most well-liked to remain silent on the hostage scenario, however selected to launch the knowledge forward of a information report on the problem, the supply added.
The report in query seems to be from The Cradle. The outlet mentioned Tsurkova was “kidnapped from a home within the Karrada neighborhood of Baghdad on 26 March” and that her abductors wore “official Iraqi safety service uniforms.”
In line with Iraqi safety sources, Tsurkova arrived within the Kurdistan area earlier than transferring to Baghdad, utilizing a Russian passport as a result of Israeli residents are banned from the nation. She might have used the identical paperwork for touring to Syria and Lebanon as nicely, the Israeli diplomatic supply advised the Jerusalem Put up.
The Russian embassy in Baghdad advised the Cradle that they had “no proof in regards to the particular person talked about in your request neither about her nationality nor her story in Iraq.”
Tsurkova speaks Arabic, English, Hebrew, and Russian. The final submit on her Twitter profile was on March 21. She had served within the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) and led a Palestinian rights NGO, earlier than reinventing herself as an professional on the battle in Syria. She has championed regime change in Damascus and promoted the “average rebels” such because the Al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Entrance, later often called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
