Sergeant First Class Zvi Feldman (The International Coalition for Missing Israeli Soldiers)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Mossad intelligence agency announced on May 11 that they had recovered the remains of a tanker who went missing in the battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982 in Lebanon from the “heart of Syria.”
In a joint statement, they said that the remains of Sergeant First Class Zvi Feldmanin were recovered in a special operation. They added that the “complex and covert operation” was made possible by “precise intelligence” and other capabilities, including “intelligence research and collection efforts and many activities and operations in enemy territory.”
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) inflicted heavy losses on the IDF during the battle which took place in the Beqaa Valley. 21 Israeli troops were killed, and more than 30 others were injured at the time. Syrian troops also destroyed ten main battle tanks, and captured several others.
Feldman went missing during the battle along with Sergeant First Class Yehuda Katz and Sergeant First Class Zachary Baumel.
Baumel’s remains were recovered with Russian assistance from the Yarmouk refugee camp near the Syrian capital, Damascus, home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in the country. Later, Israel released two Syrian prisoners in a “good will gesture.”
“For decades, Zvika was missing, and the efforts to locate him, along with the other missing soldiers from that same battle, never ceased for a moment,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
The IDF, Mossad, Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Israel Katz all vowed Israel would not stop its efforts until the remains of Katz are also returned.
“Just as we returned Zachary Baumel, and today Zvi Feldman, we continue to act in every way to also return Sergeant First Class Yehuda Katz and fulfill our duty for him and his family,” the defense minister said.
The IDF invaded the buffer zone adjacent to the occupied Golan Heights after the fall of the Assad regime last December. It also launched hundreds of strikes destroying nearly all of the capabilities of the SAA, which was dissolved by the country’s new Islamist rulers.
It’s worth noting that the recovery of Feldman’s remains came following reports of talks between Israel and Syria’s interim government.
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