About this episode

Elizabeth Tsurkov shares her experiences in conflict zones and reflects on her captivity and the realities of the Middle East.

Elizabeth Tsurkov has spent years doing what most researchers only read about — traveling into conflict zones, sitting with militia commanders, and listening to the people living inside the stories we think we understand. A doctoral candidate at Princeton and fellow at both the Middle East Policy Council in Washington and the Forum for Regional Thinking in Jerusalem, she is one of the sharpest independent voices on the Arab world today. In 2023, while conducting field research in Iraq, she was abducted by an Iranian-backed militia and held for 903 days before being released in 2025. In this conversation, she reflects on that heartbreaking experience — and on what Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the wider Middle East actually look like up close, beyond the headlines and the misconceptions that keep getting in the way. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:45 Surviving 903 Days in Captivity 03:43 The Dissertation That Kept Her Going 12:04 Inside Iraq's Corruption Machine 15:49 What Iraq Is Really Like 30:29 Was It Worth Going to Iraq? 34:26 How Captivity Changed Elizabeth Tsurkov 40:00 What's Really Happening in Syria? 51:03 Is Syria's New Leader Still a Jihadist? 56:08 Is Peace Between Israel…

People in this episode

Guest: Elizabeth Tsurkov

Topics covered

• Middle East
• conflict zones
• captivity
• Iraq
• Syria
• militia commanders

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Princeton, Middle East Policy Council, Forum for Regional Thinking

Places: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the ROPESCAST podcast page.