Elizabeth Tsurkov
© The CradleThe prominent Israeli commentator on the foreign-led war on Syria was allegedly kidnapped on 26 March in Iraq's capital
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a prominent Israeli researcher and writer on Syrian affairs, disappeared this past March in Baghdad during a visit to Iraq, The Cradle has learned. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.

Tsurkov, a former Israeli soldier, became well known for her reporting and commentary during the US-led war against Syria that began in 2011.

An active user of Twitter, Tsurkov has not posted to the social media site since March 21. Despite this abrupt silence, no reports have previously emerged in the western press citing her possible disappearance.

Tsurkov is currently listed as a non-resident fellow at the Washington, DC based Newlines Institute. The Cradle contacted Newlines for comment on Tsurkov's disappearance but did not receive a response.

Tsurkov was first rumored to have disappeared while in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. However, information obtained by The Cradle indicates that "she was kidnapped from a house in the Karrada neighborhood of Baghdad on 26 March."

However, senior Iraqi security sources told The Cradle that Tsurkov's kidnappers "were dressed in official Iraqi security service uniforms." Since then, no information about her whereabouts or who may be holding her has emerged.

In the first days after her abduction, news spread in the Iraqi capital about "the kidnapping of a Russian woman, who holds American citizenship," in a possible reference to Tsurkov. An Iraqi source says Tsurkov is not a US citizen, but holds dual Israeli-Russian citizenship.

The early report in Iraq also claimed that the unnamed woman - who may or may not have been Tsurkov - was kidnapped by an Iranian citizen who was arrested by Iraqi security forces. Iraqi official sources have denied to The Cradle the allegation that an Iranian was detained over this matter.

Tsurkov entered Iraq on a Russian passport, according to high-ranking Iraqi security sources, and first visited the Kurdistan region of Iraq, before moving on to Baghdad.

But the Russian embassy in Baghdad told The Cradle in an email that it has "no evidence about the individual mentioned in your request neither about her nationality nor her story in Iraq."

Iraq's Interior Minister Lieutenant General Abdul Amir al-Shammari was contacted for comment on Tsurkov's disappearance, but did not respond to the request. Iraqi security officials usually authorized to make public statements also refused to comment on the matter.

Tsurkov, who speaks English, Hebrew, Russian, and Arabic, is well known to observers of the 2011 US-led covert war on Syria.

Her reporting relied on her close personal contacts with opposition activists and commanders of foreign-backed extremist groups fighting against the Syrian government, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front, later known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Tsurkov's commentary on Syria has promoted regime change and parroted US and Israeli propaganda about the conflict, portraying foreign-backed extremist groups as "moderate rebels."

Tsurkov dismissed claims of Israel's direct support for the Syrian insurgency and efforts to topple the Syrian government, despite admissions from Israeli officials that they wished to topple Bashar al-Assad's government from the beginning of the war in 2011, as reported by the Jerusalem Post, and admissions that the Israeli army was supporting the Nusra Front, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Tsurkov took this stance despite admissions by opposition activists that the Israeli air force was actively bombing the Syrian army on behalf of the Nusra Front.

But once Israeli support for the Nusra Front and other groups became widely known, Tsurkov wrote her own report detailing Israeli activity in this regard.

Tsurkov regularly justifies the Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, while defending the legitimacy of the US sanctions on Syria.

Her current employer, the Newlines Institute, was founded by Ahmed Alwani, who was vice president of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), which has links to the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2006, the Muslim Brotherhood began partnering with neoconservatives from the George W. Bush Administration to plan for regime change in Syria.

As reported previously, the leadership of Newlines Institute includes former US State Department officials, US military advisors, and intelligence professionals.

Though Tsurkov describes herself as an Israeli dissident opposed to Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, she also openly acknowledges her service in the Israeli army during its war on Lebanon in 2006.