Israeli hostage to Shia militia in Iraq

Correspondent in Jerusalem

It is a secret that the Israeli government has kept for as long as possible. But a press release ended up making public information which was beginning to leak: “for several months”, an Israeli woman has been hostage in Iraq, held by a Shiite militia, Kataëb Hezbollah. This is Elizabeth Tsurkov, 36, Middle East specialist, doctoral student at Princeton University, United States.

Arabic-speaking, she used her Russian passport to travel to countries forbidden to citizens of Israel, such as Syria or Iraq. But a quick search on the internet, where his Twitter account has nearly 80,000 followers, leaves little doubt about his Israeli nationality. Last winter, her research had taken her to Baghdad where she was reportedly kidnapped in March. In its statement, the Israeli government says that Elizabeth Tsurkov "is still alive, and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being". The two countries do not have diplomatic relations. The United States also admitted to being "aware of the kidnapping", while "deferring to the Iraqi authorities for comment". So far, they have remained silent. According to Amwaj, an information site specializing in the region, the Iraqi services had already informed their Russian and American counterparts of the risks that Elizabeth Tsurkov was taking by staying there.

The Kataëb Hezbollah, the militia which holds the young woman hostage, has been listed as a terrorist by the United States since 2009. This "party of God brigade" was created in 2003, during the Iraq war, to fight against US-led coalition troops. It is a Shiite movement that is said to have 7,000 members and is controlled by the Revolutionary Guards in Iran. Although it takes its name from the Lebanese Hezbollah, it should not be confused with it. According to the Amwaj website, Elizabeth Tsurkov worked on the Sadrist Movement, led by Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr. The Israeli researcher was in Iraq to interview members of this organization, a rival of Kataeb Hezbollah. The latter, supposes the site, could have seen in her an agent of the Mossad, the Israeli external intelligence services. Israel denied that the young woman belonged to the Mossad.

Kataeb Hezbollah's ties to Tehran are fueling fears that the Israeli hostage will be transferred to Iran. The Islamic Republic is a notorious supporter of Israel's enemies, whether they are Shiites, like the Lebanese Hezbollah, or Sunnis, like the Palestinian movements of Islamic Jihad or Hamas, the movement that governs the Gaza Strip, where since 2014 two Israeli hostages as well as the remains of two IDF soldiers. Iran, which seeks by all means to destabilize its number one enemy in the Middle East, could try to make a profit from this hostage.

For Israel, this situation complicates the game in the region. The country is indeed facing a multiplication of threats, whether they come from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip or from the Syrian and Lebanese borders. In all these regions hangs the shadow of Iran. “I don't know what the strategic consequences of this hostage-taking will be, tempers Yoel Guzansky, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, specialist in security issues in the Gulf countries. Persian. But I know that in the Middle East the smallest event can have global consequences.”

Does the announcement of the hostage taking of Elizabeth Tsurkov mean that negotiations are underway? Israel, many of whose citizens hold Russian nationality, maintains relations with Russia, which has grown closer to Iran since the start of the war in Ukraine. Such a channel could be useful in talks.