DUBAI: With the world’s attention fixed on efforts to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, talks are quietly continuing to liberate an Israeli hostage held in Iraq by a different Iranian-backed militant group.

A 38-year-old Middle East scholar from Israel was kidnapped in 2023 while doing research in Iraq, and officials from several countries say progress is being made to secure her release.

The family of the scholar – Elizabeth Tsurkov, who also holds Russian citizenship – is trying to remain optimistic. Even though the circumstances are completely different, the release of hostages from Gaza earlier this year gave the family reason to stay hopeful that Tsurkov, who marks 800 days in captivity on Thursday, will also be freed.

“It’s like a phoenix rising from the ashes when the hostages come out. You see that despite everything they’ve been through, there is still life in them,” said Emma Tsurkov, the scholar’s sister.

There were reports over the weekend that negotiators were very close to a deal, but the terms are complicated and Tsurkov’s sister said no deal appears imminent.

“One of the most difficult parts about having a loved one in captivity is the uncertainty,” she said.

Negotiators are focusing on an exchange that would include seven Lebanese captured during the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah. But Iraqi and Lebanese officials told The Associated Press the talks recently stalled over Iran’s demand for the release of one of its citizens detained in Iraq for the killing of an American.

Held captive by an Iraqi militant group

Elizabeth Tsurkov disappeared in Baghdad in March 2023 while doing research for her doctorate at Princeton University. The only direct sign of life her family has received is a November 2023 video of her broadcast on an Iraqi television station and circulated on pro-Iranian social media.

In the past few months, officials from several countries, including the Iraqi foreign minister and deputy prime minister, have confirmed she is alive and being held in Iraq by a Shiite Muslim militant group called Kataeb Hezbollah, according to her sister. The group has not claimed the kidnapping nor have Iraqi officials publicly said which group is responsible.

Kataeb Hezbollah’s leader and founder died in an American airstrike in 2020 that also killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force and the architect of its military alliances in the region.

The group, an ally of Hezbollah in Lebanon, is part of a coalition of Iranian-backed militias that are officially part of Iraq’s armed forces but in practice often act on their own. The US government listed Kataeb Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in 2009.

Moving pieces from Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Israel, and the US

Emma Tsurkov, who lives in California, believes the US, Israel’s closest ally, has the most leverage to pressure the Iraqi government for her sister’s release – either by withholding arms or financial assistance. Israel, which does not negotiate directly with Iraq because the two countries have no formal relations, has less influence, she said.

Although Tsurkov entered Iraq using her Russian passport, Russia has declined to get involved in negotiating for her release, Emma Tsurkov said.

Earlier this year, a senior Israeli official said the Israeli government is working with allies in a renewed push to win the freedom of Tsurkov. Israeli officials declined to comment for this story.

About a month ago, a US official and several former diplomats visited Baghdad to mediate for
Tsurkov’s release, according to a senior Iraqi political official involved in the negotiations. They held indirect talks with Iranian officials and leaders from the militant group holding her, according to this official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive talks.

Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s top hostage envoy, has repeatedly called for Tsurkov’s release and has traveled to Iraq to press his case. “We have and will continue to underscore with the Iraqi government the urgency of securing her release,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Tuesday.

Another Iraqi official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US and Israel do not object to the release of the Lebanese prisoners held in Israel.

An official with a Lebanese group involved in the indirect negotiations said that, in exchange for Tsurkov’s freedom, they are seeking the release of seven Lebanese prisoners, some of whom are associated with Hezbollah and a Lebanese navy officer who was kidnapped by an Israeli commando force on Lebanon’s northern coast in early November. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Also involved in a possible exchange are five men in prison in Iraq for the 2022 fatal shooting of Stephen Edward Troell, a 45-year-old teacher from Tennessee. Troell was killed as he pulled up to the street where he lived in central Baghdad with his family.

Iranian citizen Mohammed Ali Ridha was convicted in the killing, along with four Iraqis, in what was described as a kidnapping gone wrong. The prospect of Ridha’s release is one of the major holdups in the negotiations, Lebanese and Iraqi officials said.

Emma Tsurkov said the complexity of the negotiations is devastating for her family. “This isn’t a real estate deal, we aren’t talking about a piece of land,” she said. “We’re talking about an innocent human being who is having a just horrendous ordeal.”

Finding hope in hostages released from Gaza

In an interview in September 2023, Tsurkov said her sister’s ordeal was “the type of nightmare I wish on no one.” Three weeks later, some 251 people were captured during Hamas’ cross-border attack on southern Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza. There are 58 hostages still being held in Gaza, though Israel believes only around a third of them are alive.

Tsurkov said that although her sister’s kidnapping is very different from the situation of the hostages, she couldn’t help but watch the videos of the unifications between released hostages from Gaza and their families earlier this year and wonder if she will ever get that opportunity to embrace her sister again.

“I know my sister is going through something so incredibly difficult, and I hope that I get to see her again, and I hope that there’s still life left in her.”

She said one of the more heartbreaking aspects of the past two years has been how many officials have told her they wish they could benefit from her sister’s expertise during the negotiations over a possible deal.

Elizabeth Tsurkov is a well-known academic who was often interviewed in the media, and her research was focused on sectarianism in the Middle East, specifically Iraq.

“If we want a good understanding of the Middle East, we need people like my sister to travel to the Middle East to research it,” Emma Tsurkov said.