Former hostage of Iraqi terrorist group thanks Trump for liberation
The article reports on Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Russian-Israeli researcher adn former Princeton student, who was held captive for 903 days by the Iraqi terrorist group Kataib Hezbollah. She was abducted in Baghdad in March 2023 after contacting a relative of a militia leader for research purposes. Following her release last month, Tsurkov publicly thanked former President Donald Trump for his decisive actions that secured her freedom without conceding to her kidnappers’ demands. She also expressed gratitude to other officials involved in her release, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special envoy Adam Boehler. Tsurkov shared emotional statements in Arabic and Hebrew, condemning her captors and celebrating her reunion with her family. Kataib Hezbollah, distinct from the Lebanese Hezbollah but similarly supported by Iran, is recognized by the U.S.as a terrorist group and is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces.The article highlights Tsurkov’s background, her previous work on Middle East issues, and her ordeal’s conclusion thanks to diplomatic efforts.
Former hostage of Iraqi terrorist group thanks Trump for liberation, ‘without anything given in return to the kidnappers’
Kataib Hezbollah, a Princeton student held captive by the Iraqi terrorist group, personally thanked President Donald Trump for her release, praising him for not giving anything to her kidnappers in the process.
Elizabeth Tsurkov, 38, a Russian Israeli researcher, was released last month after 903 days in captivity. After nearly a month of adjusting to life back home, Tsurkov returned to her once highly active X account, announcing her return with a meme gif.
She then expressed gratitude to Trump, who announced her release after months of no information on her whereabouts.
“Finally, blessedly, free after 903 days in captivity. Thank you President @realDonaldTrump, for the decisive action that brought me home without anything given in return to the kidnappers, Kataeb Hezbollah,” she said, adding that she was “deeply grateful” to a slew of figures, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who tried to help in any way,” Tsurkov added.
She gave different statements in Arabic and Hebrew. Her Arabic statement was the most condemnatory of her captors.
“Thank you to all my friends around the world who advocated for my freedom and came for me. The All-Hearing, the Most Merciful, preserved me even in the depths of hell under the torture of the battalions of the dregs, and saved me from the hands of these immoral people,” Tsurkov said.
“I have no words to describe the feeling of happiness to be free and with my family. All the hostages and their families deserve to experience this feeling,” she said in her Hebrew statement.
Tsurkov, born in the Soviet Union but who moved to Israel at age 4, served in the Israel Defense Forces when she came of age. She was kidnapped at a Baghdad cafe on March 21, 2023, after contacting a relative of a Kataib Hezbollah leader, who learned of her Israeli citizenship, for a research project.
Tsurkov contributed her writings, focusing on the Middle East, to several outlets before her captivity. In March 2020, she wrote an article for the Washington Examiner on the Turkish intervention in the Syrian civil war.
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Kataib Hezbollah is unrelated to the better-known Hezbollah of Lebanon, though both are Shiite militias heavily backed by Iran. Kataib Hezbollah is one of the main groups that make up the Popular Mobilization Forces, a network of Shiite militias integrated into the Iraqi government’s security apparatus, despite being designated a terrorist group by the United States.
Kataib Hezbollah’s first leader, Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, was killed by the U.S. in January 2020 in the same drone strike that killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani.
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