Tsurkov was abducted in Baghdad in March 2023, reportedly by the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah [Getty]
Iraqi armed factions are reportedly seeking a prisoner exchange deal with Israel to secure the release of abducted Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov in return for Hezbollah fighters held by Israel, according to Iraqi, Lebanese and Israeli media reports this week.
The proposed swap includes seven Hezbollah fighters captured by Israel between September and November 2024, according to Amwaj news site.
It also includes the Lebanese sea captain Imad Amhaz, who was abducted by some 20 Israeli commandos from the coastal town of Batroun in northern Lebanon in November 2024.
An Iraqi senior source close to Shia armed factions told Amwaj that Tsurkov’s captors had expressed readiness for a prisoner swap, but Israel was yet to respond.
Lebanese media reported that the ongoing negotiation between Iraq, Hezbollah and Israel over the swap came as part of the latest extension of the ceasefire deadline in Lebanon.
In October, Hezbollah’s now secretary-general, Naim Qassem, acknowledged that some of the group’s fighters were taken prisoner by Israeli forces between October and November 2024, without disclosing the exact number.
Tsurkov, a political science researcher based in the US, was abducted in Baghdad in March 2023, reportedly by the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah.
She had been reportedly conducting doctoral research on Iraqi political movements, including the Sadrist Movement, and was last seen attempting to meet one of its senior commanders.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Kataib Hezbollah of being behind her kidnapping, though the group has not publicly confirmed its involvement.
Last week, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told Axios that Tsurkov was alive and that Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani was actively working to secure her release.
In November 2023, Al Rabiaa TV aired a video showing Tsurkov, in which she claimed to have worked for both the CIA and Mossad in Iraq and Syria.
Her family and colleagues dismissed the statement, stressing that she was an academic whose work had focused on research rather than intelligence operations.
According to the daily Haaretz, Israel has intensified its diplomatic efforts to secure her release. Israel’s coordinator for hostages and missing persons, Gal Hirsch, met at the beginning of the month with Tsurkov’s family in Israel.
