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Israeli-Russian Academic Being Held by Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq, Netanyahu Says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a briefing near the Salem military post between Israel and the West Bank, 04 July 2023. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a briefing near the Salem military post between Israel and the West Bank, 04 July 2023. (EPA)
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Israeli-Russian Academic Being Held by Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq, Netanyahu Says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a briefing near the Salem military post between Israel and the West Bank, 04 July 2023. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a briefing near the Salem military post between Israel and the West Bank, 04 July 2023. (EPA)

An Israeli-Russian academic who went missing in Iraq a few months ago is alive and being held there by Shiite group Kataeb Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Wednesday.

A statement from Netanyhahu's office named the woman as Elisabeth Tsurkov. It said she had gone to Iraq for research purposes on behalf of Princeton University in the United States. There were no immediate details on her condition.

Tsurkov entered Iraq on her Russian passport, the statement said.

"Elisabeth Tsurkov is still alive and we see Iraq as responsible for her fate and well-being," the statement said, adding that the situation is being handled by the relevant bodies in Israel.

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Lebanese Begin Grim Task of Recovering Bodies from Rubble

Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)
Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)
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Lebanese Begin Grim Task of Recovering Bodies from Rubble

Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)
Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)

In the southern Lebanon border villages of Bint Jbeil and Ainata, where fierce fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters took place, rescuers used excavators began searching on Wednesday for bodies under the rubble.

A woman in Ainata wrapped in black cried as she held a portrait her grandson, a Hezbollah fighter, who was killed in the fighting, as she waits for rescuers to recover his body from a destroyed home.

The smell of death filled the air and several dead bodies could be seen inside houses and between trees. In the town of Kfar Hammam, rescuers recovered four bodies, according to Lebanese state media.

Meanwhile, families and politicians visited the graves of Hezbollah fighters buried in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek region.

Families with tears in their eyes paid respects to the dead and celebratory gunshots could be heard in the background Wednesday, the first day of a ceasefire between the group and Israel.

“The resistance (Hezbollah) will stay to defend Lebanon,” Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Mokdad told reporters while visiting the graves. “We tell the enemy that the martyrs thwarted their plans for the Middle East.”

Several other Hezbollah members of parliament were present.