RSS
Israel says Elizabeth Tsurkov, Russian-Israeli Middle East analyst, is being held by Shiite militia in Iraq
(JTA) — Elizabeth Tsurkov, an expert on refugees and a Middle East analyst who has Russian and Israeli citizenship, has been held for months by a Shiite militia in Iraq, according to the Israeli government.
“Elizabeth Tsurkov is an Israeli-Russian dual citizen who has been missing in Iraq for several months and is being held by the Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday in a statement. “Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being.”
Tsurkov, 36, is currently a non-resident fellow at the Washington D.C.-based New Lines Institute, a foreign policy think tank. She is also a doctoral student at Princeton. The statement from Netanyahu’s office describes her as “an academic who visited Iraq on her Russian passport, at her own initiative pursuant to work on her doctorate and academic research on behalf of Princeton University in the U.S.”
The statement added, “The matter is being handled by the relevant parties in the State of Israel out of concern for Elizabeth Tsurkov’s security and well-being.”
The New York Times reported that she was kidnapped in late March shortly after leaving a cafe in a middle class Baghdad neighborhood.
“She was kidnapped in the middle of Baghdad, and we see the Iraqi government as directly responsible for her safety,” a statement from her family said. “We ask for her immediate release from this unlawful detention.”
Kataib Hezbollah, the group that has allegedly kidnapped Tsurkov, is separate from the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, though both are connected to Iran, according to The New York Times. Kataib Hezbollah led a 2019 attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
Tsurkov’s capture has been known by those close to her for months. Israel’s government went public after a publication called The Cradle broke the news of her kidnapping earlier Wednesday.It is not clear where The Cradle, which is sharply critical of U.S. and Israeli policy, is based or who funds it.
Tsurkov, the daughter of Soviet Jewish refugees, became known in Israel for her advocacy on behalf of African refugees who came into the country in the last decade-plus. She also was an outspoken critic of Netanyahu’s previous governments and their treatment of Palestinians. The New York Times reported that she had visited Iraq 10 times, according to figures provided by the Iraqi government, which did not comment on her kidnapping.
“My research is informed by the desire to understand and convey the points of view and experiences of people in the Middle East, and highlight abuses by powerful actors, whether they are dictatorial regimes, armed groups or foreign countries intervening in the region,” she says on her personal website.
In February she denounced a retaliatory raid by Jewish settlers on a West Bank village as a “pogrom”. On March 18, she reported on Twitter that she was recovering from surgery for herniated discs. On March 21, she used the platform to report Kurdish protests of repression by a Turkish-backed militia in northwest Syria. Those were her latest tweets.
In 2014, Tsurkov engaged with Hamas on Twitter during Israel’s war with the Gaza-based terrorist group, chiding its social media team for ungrammatical Hebrew.
In 2021, commenting on an Israeli woman who was taken prisoner in Syria and then freed, Tsurkov foresaw the possibility that she, too, could be taken captive. “I am generally against prisoner exchanges (even if I get into trouble on my next visit to Syria/Iraq),” she wrote. “But given that it’s the policy of the state of Israel, quick action was the correct course.”
—
The post Israel says Elizabeth Tsurkov, Russian-Israeli Middle East analyst, is being held by Shiite militia in Iraq appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
B-2 Bombers Moving to Guam Amid Middle East Tensions, US Officials Say
FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber takes off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam January 11, 2018. Picture taken January 11, 2018. U.S. Air Force/Airman 1st Class Gerald Willis/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
The United States is moving B-2 bombers to the Pacific island of Guam, two US officials told Reuters on Saturday, as President Donald Trump weighs whether the United States should take part in Israel’s strikes against Iran.
It was unclear whether the bomber deployment is tied to Middle East tensions.
The B-2 can be equipped to carry America’s 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, designed to destroy targets deep underground. That is the weapon that experts say could be used to strike Iran‘s nuclear program, including Fordow.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, declined to disclose any further details. One official said no forward orders had been given yet to move the bombers beyond Guam. They did not say how many B-2 bombers are being moved.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Experts and officials are closely watching to see whether the B-2 bombers will move forward to a US-British military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. Experts say that Diego Garcia is in an ideal position to operate in the Middle East.
The United States had B-2 bombers on Diego Garcia up until last month, when they were replaced with B-52 bombers.
Israel said on Saturday it had killed a veteran Iranian commander during attacks by both sides in the more than week-long air war, while Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear program while under threat.
Israel says Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, while Iran says its atomic program is only for peaceful purposes.
Trump has said he would take up to two weeks to decide whether the United States should enter the conflict on Israel’s side, enough time “to see whether or not people come to their senses,” he said.
Reuters was first to report this week the movement of a large number of tanker aircraft to Europe and other military assets to the Middle East, including the deployment of more fighter jets.
An aircraft carrier in the Indo-Pacific is also heading to the Middle East.
The post B-2 Bombers Moving to Guam Amid Middle East Tensions, US Officials Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.