Iraq's Kataeb Hezbollah denies it is holding missing Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov

Her disappearance was not widely known until Israel accused the paramilitary group of holding her captive

Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov has been missing in Iraq for months. Ahmad Mohamad / AFP

Iraqi paramilitary group Kataeb Hezbollah on Thursday dismissed Israel's accusation that it is holding missing Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, saying it would search for her and those responsible for her disappearance.

Ms Tsurkov travelled to Iraq for research for her doctoral degree at Princeton University in the US but had not been seen since March.

Her disappearance was not widely known until Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement on Wednesday saying she was being held by Kataeb Hezbollah and that Israel would hold Iraq responsible for her well-being.

"Elisabeth Tsurkov is still alive and we see Iraq as responsible for her fate and well-being," the office said.

The situation is being handled by the relevant bodies in Israel, it said.

Kataeb Hezbollah, one of several state-sanctioned Iraqi paramilitary groups with affiliations to Iran, said the researcher's disappearance was a “dangerous matter that must be taken seriously”.

"Security officials and the army must stand together and work hard at uncovering the perpetrators and holding them to account," the paramilitary group said..

"We will, as Kataeb Hezbollah, spare no efforts to find the Israeli hostage in Iraq. We will find out who is behind these acts and how they are operating inside the country and who is aiding them.

“The relevant security services must uncover the networks associated with this and bring them to justice.”

Mr Netanyahu's office said Ms Tsurkov entered Iraq on her Russian passport.

Israeli citizens are not allowed to enter Iraq after the Iraqi Parliament passed a law last year criminalising any ties with Israel.

The law also applied to foreigners working in Iraq, potentially putting Ms Tsurkov at risk, even before considering the presence of Iran-backed militias such as Kataeb Hezbollah.

According to New Lines magazine, a publication of the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy think tank in Washington where Ms Tsurkov was a fellow, she was abducted in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in late March.

The last post on her Twitter account was on March 21.

Ms Tsurkov's research focused on the Levant and particularly the Syrian civil war, her website says.

New Lines said her kidnapping was first reported by Michael Rubin, an American analyst whose focus is Iraq and Iran.

Mr Rubin said in June that Ms Tsurkov had been detained by militias after being warned not to return to Iraq, where she had previously conducted field research in Mosul and the Kurdistan region.

His reference to her kidnapping links to a March 29 story in The New Arab, which incorrectly reported the kidnapping of a Russian-American academic in the Karrada neighbourhood of Baghdad.

"Investigations are continuing with the kidnapping, and under the supervision of the office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, in order to uncover the entire network involved in the kidnapping," an Iraqi security force statement said at the time.

New Lines said Ms Tsurkov was a passionate critic of Israel, while also aiming strong criticism at Iran's allies in the Middle East.

The publication said that her criticism of all countries that could secure her release, including Russia, could complicate efforts to secure her safety.

Kataeb Hezbollah is accused of kidnapping and killing hundreds of Iraqis, sometimes with no announced justification for its actions.

In January, the group was accused of kidnapping an Iraqi environmentalist, reportedly because he had criticised on social media the construction of dams in Iran.