Israeli-Russian academic and Princeton University student Elizabeth Tsurkov , who was held captive in Iraq for more than two years, was released earlier this week in an exchange deal with Israel, according to a report by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

Two prisoners, including a Lebanese national seized in 2024, were released by Israel in exchange for the freedom of Tsurkov, whom Tasnim described in its report on Thursday as an “Israeli spy”.

Citing an unnamed source in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, Tasnim identified one of the Israeli prisoners as Imad Amhaz , who was abducted in November 2024 by Israeli forces from Batroun, a predominantly Christian coastal town north of Beirut.

Amhaz was identified by Israel as a trainer mariner and “senior operative” of the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Bu

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