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EXCLUSIVE: Elizabeth Tsurkov visited Lebanon illegally for 3 months

Lebanese security services are conducting investigations to identify the individuals with whom Tsurkov, who served in Israeli military intelligence during the war on Lebanon, may have communicated

Official sources in Lebanon have confirmed to The Cradle that Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli citizen kidnapped in Iraq in March after entering the country illegally on a Russian passport, also illegally visited Lebanon for three months between April and July 2022. 

The sources revealed that Tsurkov entered Lebanon on a Russian passport issued under the name “Elizaveta Tsurkova,” a slight variation from the name she uses publicly.

The Cradle broke the news of Tsurkov’s disappearance on 5 July, based on information from security sources in Iraq. Hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Tsurkov’s disappearance, claiming that the Iraqi resistance faction Kataeb Hezbollah had kidnapped her -- an allegation the group denies.

Tsurkov, who served in an Israeli military intelligence unit during the 2006 war in south Lebanon against Lebanese Hezbollah, entered Iraq and Lebanon using a Russian passport. The laws of both countries make it illegal for any Israeli citizen to enter and for Lebanese and Iraqi citizens to have any communication or contact with Israelis. 

Lebanese security officials are investigating the identities of those in Lebanon Tsurkov communicated with, and who may have facilitated her visit, The Cradle was told.

Tsurkov was born in the former Soviet Union before emigrating to Israel and growing up in an illegal Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. 

Tsurkov claimed to be living in Iraq to conduct research on the Sadrist movement, led by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, as part of her Ph.D. studies at Princeton University.

However, Palestinian journalist Ali Abunimah reported that “Princeton strictly bans its students from conducting any university-related research in Iraq for safety reasons, so whatever she was doing there, it was not work Princeton would recognize as part of her dissertation.”

Tsurkov gained prominence as an analyst of the Syria war, while promoting Washington’s policy of regime change and calling for Western intervention in the form of a no-fly zone. Tsurkov enjoyed close personal contact with commanders and fighters of Western, Israeli, Gulf, and Turkish-backed extremist groups fighting to topple the Syrian government, including the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. 

Though the Israeli government initially denied supporting the US-led cover war on Syria, claiming to prefer the stability of the Syrian government, Israeli officials later acknowledged their desire to topple Assad, a view they had held since the beginning of the war in 2011. Israeli officials also later acknowledged support for Al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front, arguing that the group had no desire to fight Israel.

Israel’s support for Al-Qaeda groups in Syria, and Tsurkov’s close contacts with such groups, have led to speculation that she took the risk to enter Iraq and Lebanon illegally because she was still working for Israeli intelligence in some capacity.