Iraqi MP warns: Tsurkov's release won't shield Iraq from regional conflict

Shafaq News – Baghdad

Distancing Iraq from the region’s complex conflicts is not contingent on the release of Israeli-Russian national Elizabeth Tsurkov, but rather on normalization with Israel, Iraqi independent lawmaker Yasser al-Husseini stated on Wednesday.

In remarks to Shafaq News Agency, al-Husseini argued that Iraq "lies at the heart of developments in the Middle East" and that removing it from ongoing regional tensions would require alignment with what he described as "the American-Israeli project aimed at redrawing the region’s map," rather than the “symbolic release of a hostage.”

He asserted that normalization with Israel, which he referred to as the Zionist entity, is viewed as the sole path that might distance Iraq from regional conflict. However, he stressed that such a move is "rejected publicly, morally, and politically," noting that Iraq’s legal and political framework explicitly criminalizes any form of normalization.

Addressing the potential domestic implications of Tsurkov’s release, al-Husseini said the situation inside Iraq remains deeply entangled, citing a “corrupt political system largely disconnected from its popular base” and a broader lack of balance in Iraq’s regional and international relationships.

Earlier today, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed gratitude to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for his role in securing Tsurkov’s release from Kataib Hezbollah custody in Iraq.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also commented on her release via a post on X, stating that she was "an Israeli citizen kidnapped in Iraq in March 2023."

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and US President Donald Trump had jointly announced Tsurkov’s release on Tuesday evening, nearly two years after her abduction in Baghdad.