The Iraqi Alrabiaa TV channel aired footage on Friday morning of Israeli citizen Elizabeth Tsurkov in a Baghdad cafe prior to her abduction by the Kata’ib Hezbollah militia.

Additionally, a spokesperson for the Iraqi government referred to the kidnapping on Friday for the first time, saying that “there is no official statement on the matter except that the Iraqi government will complete its official investigations, reach conclusions and afterward, there will be official announcements or positions.”

Israel’s Channel 12 News reported on Thursday that Tsurkov was warned numerous times about the dangers of her trips to Iraq.

Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, the former prime minister of Iraq, who was also the country’s intelligence chief in the past and has close ties with US government officials, conveyed a message to the US and Russia in recent months that Tsurkov’s work in Iraq along with her Israeli and Russian passports are “endangering her.”

These warnings were personally conveyed to her by various officials in Israel. Prior to her last trip to in Iraq, she was warned once again – but chose not to heed the warnings, explaining to her family members that “to study political movements in the Middle East you need a presence in the field. There is no other way to do this research.”

An Iraqi source who was in contact with Tsurkov told Kan News that she was abducted from an apartment she rented in Baghdad and that the kidnappers also abducted Tsurkov’s roommate, an Iraqi citizen and a fellow researcher. The latter was released two weeks after the kidnapping and even left Baghdad, but returned there recently.

The Iraqi source also added that he and others in the country already contacted Iraqi intelligence two months ago regarding Tsurkov’s case. “We were told that she is fine,” he said, “and that she is no longer in Iraq but has returned to the United States. They lied to us.” According to the source, Tsurkov was initially held by Iraqi intelligence officials and then transferred to Kata’ib Hezbollah. He said that Iran is involved in the case as well.

The source is close to former Iraqi prime minister Al-Kadhimi, who is hated by the pro-Iranian camp. Current Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani has close ties with the pro-Iranian camp which also have a strong influence on the country’s intelligence services.

Channel 12 reported that according to Iraqi reports, the Kata’ib Hezbollah members who kidnapped Zurkov were holding her in a military camp in the Jurf al-Zachar area south of the Iraqi capital. This camp is known for the activities of Iranian Revolutionary Guards experts and houses laboratories and warehouses for missiles and drones.

In April, the Kata’ib Hezbollah operatives received an update from a local Iraqi agency working with the security forces that their involvement in Tsurkov’s kidnapping had been revealed, and since then they have been moving Tsurkov between different hideouts in southern Iraq.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)