Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton University doctoral researcher, was freed and is now at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Tuesday, more than two years after she disappeared in Iraq.
President Donald Trump said on his social media platform that he was "pleased to report" Tsurkov had been released by Kata’ib Hezbollah and was "now safely in the American Embassy in Iraq after being tortured for many months." Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al‑Sudani confirmed her release, saying it was "the culmination of extensive efforts exerted by our security services over the course of many months."
Tsurkov vanished on March 21, 2023, while on a research trip in Baghdad. Israeli authorities later said she had been seized by Kataeb Hezbollah, also rendered in English as Kata’ib Hezbollah, a powerful Shiite armed group based in Iraq that U.S. officials list as a terrorist organization. The group is distinct from but closely aligned with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said his office has followed the case for months, said he spoke with Tsurkov’s family on Tuesday and that "all of Israel is happy to see her back home." He reiterated Israel’s broader efforts to secure the release of hostages, noting the continued search for others seized in regional conflicts.
Tsurkov, an analyst of Middle Eastern affairs who has published on the Syrian conflict, entered Iraq using a Russian passport, Israeli officials have said. She had been affiliated with the Washington-based New Lines Institute; colleagues there said she was in regular contact with peers and had been undertaking academic fieldwork.
Her family and others who advocated for her release expressed relief. "Our family is incredibly happy and cannot wait to see Elizabeth and give her all the love we have been waiting to share for 903 days," her sister Emma Tsurkov said, and thanked President Trump and his special envoy, Adam Boehler, as well as U.S. Embassy staff in Baghdad and the advocacy group Global Reach for their roles in securing her freedom.
New Lines Institute colleague Hassan Hassan said the institute had been in touch with Tsurkov shortly before her disappearance and had called on governments to work for her release. Israeli authorities have said a coordinator for prisoners and missing persons, Gal Hirsch, led efforts to track her.
In November 2023 Kataib Hezbollah released a video in which a woman identified as Tsurkov said she worked for Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies and described efforts to foment unrest in Iraq; Israeli officials and friends have said those statements were made under duress. Iraqi security forces have said they investigated leads in the case, and local reporting at the time suggested authorities detained an Iranian national alleged to be involved. Iran’s embassy in Baghdad reportedly sought that individual’s release and deportation to Iran.
Prime Minister Sudani’s statement on Tuesday said Iraq would not tolerate "any compromise in enforcing the law and upholding the authority of the state, nor will we allow anyone to undermine the reputation of Iraq and its people." U.S. officials did not immediately detail the operational steps that led to Tsurkov’s transfer to the American Embassy, and Iraqi and U.S. authorities said they would continue to coordinate on next steps, including medical care and arrangements for her return home.
Tsurkov’s disappearance drew international attention because of her academic profile and because efforts to secure her freedom involved multiple governments and advocacy groups. Her release on Tuesday closes a high‑profile chapter in that case while underscoring the complex security environment for researchers working in parts of the Middle East.