This month, U.S. president Donald Trump made the sudden announcement that Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov- a doctoral student at Princeton University- had been released in Iraq, following more than two years of detention when she was kidnapped in Baghdad. Trump named Kata’ib Hezbollah- one of the leading ‘pro-resistance’ factions in Iraq, with brigades on the Popular Mobilisation Forces Commission- as responsible for the abduction.
Recently, ‘Abu Ali al-Askary’- a Telegram account run by a security official in Kata’ib Hezbollah- released a statement on her detention and release. I have translated the post and provide an analytical overview below.
The post stops short of explicitly saying that Kata’ib Hezbollah detained her, but it is clear from the post’ content that the group was behind the abduction, as Abu Ali notes that “we” (i.e. Kata’ib Hezbollah) have been asked about the matter and thus he is releasing this clarification.
It is also clear from the statement that the group interrogated her at length about her research in both Iraq and Syria and probably extracted details of every contact on the ground she had on her devices (she was known to talk about her extensive range of contacts). In the case of Iraq in particular, per the statements about uncovering and dismantling her “team,” the group may well have used the information to intimidate and harass people in the country who worked with her, whether or not they knew she was Israeli. While we should be glad that she has been released, it should also be realised that this is one reason (among many) why Princeton should not have approved for her to conduct research trips within federal Iraq, if the university in fact approved those trips in the first place: risks to her own safety aside given her high public profile and Israeli nationality, any group seeking to do harm to her would certainly take an interest in finding out who in Iraq had been in contact with her and working with her, exposing them to potential threats and reprisals as well.
It is also clear from the statement that the group interrogated her at length about her research in both Iraq and Syria and probably extracted details of every contact on the ground she had on her devices (she was known to talk about her extensive range of contacts).
Abu Ali’s statement not only mentions supposed work on promoting the anti-establishment Tishreen protest movement that emerged in October 2019, but also says that Tsurkov worked to legitimise Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its leader Ahmad al-Sharaa (who is now of course president of Syria). There is of course some truth to that in that she did urge engagement with HTS and suggested that it should be delisted as a terrorist organisation. The claim that should be taken with a grain of salt is the notion that she was working to bring HTS to power in Syria: in reality, Tsurkov and other researchers who urged engagement with HTS prior to the overthrow of the Assad regime were not suggesting support for HTS to overthrow Assad. Rather, the policy preference was to keep the frontlines frozen and the sentiment was that HTS was a pragmatic actor moving beyond its jihadist roots, worth engaging for reasons such as humanitarian access in northwest Syria. Similarly, the notion that Israel wanted HTS to overthrow Assad is pure silliness: otherwise, how can one explain Israel’s hostility towards the new Syrian government?
Also of note is Abu Ali’s statement on her release. He makes no mention of a prisoner swap with Israel- a claim that has been raised in some media reports but is so far not corroborated. This suggests to me that there was no prisoner swap involved: after all, it would surely be a ‘victory’ for the ‘resistance’ to claim that it got, say, Hezbollah personnel or others linked to the broader ‘resistance’ out of Israeli or other hostile custody. However, Abu Ali does say that the Iraqi government worked to secure her release in order to avoid a “possible strike”- which suggests that Israel and/or the U.S. may have threatened some military action against Kata’ib Hezbollah if the government did not pressure the group to release her: something that the group would have good reason to fear in light of the severe blows Israel has inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah. In this context, note how Iraqi ‘resistance’ groups unilaterally ended their strikes on Israel that were intended to act as a pressure tool to force it to halt its war in Gaza. They almost certainly stopped those attacks because they achieved little and risked exposing the ‘resistance’ groups in Iraq to severe retaliation.
In the end, Abu Ali says that Tsurkov no longer had “security value” after all the information she had was extracted and her “team” inside Iraq was dismantled. In other words, Kata’ib Hezbollah probably decided to release her because it felt there was nothing to be gained from continuing to hold her- something that very much undermines the theory promoted by some Western ‘resistance’ supporters that she was a major Israeli intelligence asset (which would surely merit concessions from the Israelis).
Below is the full statement translated.
Abu Ali al-Askary
In the Almighty’s name:
We have been asked a lot about the Israeli woman ‘Eliza’. We say- per our confirmed information- that she, her director Aytan Nu’ama and a team of agents in Iraq worked on three fronts:
1. Shia infighting.
2. Manging the so-called ‘Tishreenists’ of ill repute and some civil society organisations, and establishing direct relations to enable them to reach the parliament and state sectors, because- from their standpoint- they represent the Zionist entity’s future in Iraq.
3. Establishing a safe province for the Tishreenists besides Arbil, in order to secure the presence of another pit to manage them. She and her team of Iraqis recruited some influencers and failed with others.
Regarding her release or the freeing of her: we have understood that among the reasons the al-Sudani government worked on her case was keeping Iraq away from a possible strike, and compelling the American enemy- even if relatively speaking- to comply with what was agreed upon with the government regarding withdrawal. We also affirm that this is in the government’s force, and they have other reasons for doing this too.
Regarding the side that detained Eliza: she was emptied out of all the information she had, and her team was dismantled, and she had no security value. We also add: she has worked with the Zionist security apparatuses since 2006, and likewise with the criminal ‘Tahrir al-Sham Front’ (Jowlani’s group) in Syria, being the link between it and the Zionist entity. She also formed part of a wide program set up in 2018 to promote and market Ahmad al-Jowlani [Ahmad al-Sharaa] and bring him to power in Damascus.
Within the framework of this rush to impose an evil agenda on the country, the Madkhali movement has entered the Iraqi scene. It was established by Saudi research centres, and the story of its establishment and deviant ideas are well-known. But we point to one aspect of them: this movement believes it is obligatory to obey the ruler (the commander of the believers) and defend him, even if that ruler commits fornication or homosexual acts or drinks wine on live air.
So the question is: who is the ruler appointed by them as commander of the believers? And who poses a danger to their amir and his rule such that he must be confronted with the sword, tongue and heart? For it is not reasonable to suppose that their supposed ruler should be a Rafidite, disbeliever, heretic, idolater or grave worshipper in their view. Some may say these people are Murj’ites- and they are as such- but until when will they remain this way? Who will bring them from irja’ to taking action? And in which circle will this decision be cooked up? The one who described them as a ticking time bomb was not mistaken.
The brothers mounting resistance in the security apparatuses and the media professionals must precisely understand the reality of these people, and know who stands behind them, so that their own work can be fruitful. They must not attribute these people to more than one part because that will disperse the work and make the true actor disappear from sight. One must note that when some of our very own beloved Sunni brothers get near to these people, they don’t do this for the purpose of establishing relations or organisational affiliation, but rather they desire to invest in anything that benefits them to weaken the Shia- not out of love for the Madkhali movement but rather out of hatred for the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) as they have done in past centuries.
As for participation in the parliamentary elections for the next term, they are very important, indeed a pressing necessity. We reaffirm that Kata’ib Hezbollah works to support the Huquq movement because it sees them as the best choice for the country and its people. The dear brothers must eagerly work to make this effort succeed.
Peace be upon God’s just servants
23 September 2025
Published originally on September 28, 2025.
