In a daring operation deep inside the Syrian territory, the Israeli military recovered the body of an officer missing for 43 years.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the intelligence agency Mossad located and retrieved the remains of Sgt. First Class Zvi Feldman, who had been missing since the First Lebanon War of 1982, Israeli officials disclosed Sunday.
“The Mossad and the IDF have recovered and returned to Israel the body of the missing soldier, Sergeant First Class Tzvika Feldman, who fell in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub 43 years ago,” the military said in a statement.
The military identified the remains before informing Feldman’s family, including his sister Anat, and his two brothers, Shlomi and Itzik. “In a special operation led by the IDF and the Mossad, the body of Sergeant First Class Tzvika Feldman was located in the heart of Syria and returned to Israel. Following the recovery, the body was identified at the Military Rabbinate’s Genomic Center for Identifying Fallen Soldiers, and the family was notified by the IDF in the presence of the Prime Minister,” the IDF statement added.
The IDF described the recovery of Feldman’s body in hostile territory as “a complex and covert operation, enabled by precise intelligence and the application of operational capabilities that demonstrated ingenuity and steadfast courage.”
Feldman was one of three IDF soldiers who went missing at the battle of Sultan Yacoub, fought between Israel and Syria in 1982. He went missing along with Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz and Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel. In 2019, the IDF recovered Baumel’s body. Katz remains missing in action to this day.
The Israeli news website Ynetnews reported the details of the fateful battle:
The Battle of Sultan Yacoub took place between June 10–11, 1982, during the sixth day of Operation Peace for Galilee. Israeli forces were ordered to seize a strategic junction near the village of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, just before a cease-fire with Syrian forces.The battle resulted in 20 Israeli fatalities, dozens wounded, and six soldiers missing. Over time, the fates of three were clarified: Zohar Lifshitz was killed in action and returned for burial after the war; Arik Lieberman was captured and released two years later; and Hezi Shai was held by Ahmed Jibril’s terrorist group and released after three years in the infamous Jibril prisoner swap.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday, vowed to ‘bring home’ Katz, the third and the last missing soldier from the Sultan Yacoub battle.
“For decades, Zvika was listed as missing, and the efforts to locate him—alongside the other soldiers missing from that battle—never ceased. Six years ago, we brought back Staff Sgt. Zachary Baumel for burial in Israel. Today, we bring back Tzvika. We will not stop until we bring home Staff Sgt. Yehuda Katz, who is still missing from that same battle,” Netanyahu said.
Revealing the details of the five-month-long covert operation, the Israel Hayom newspaper reported that “Mossad deployed assets on the ground and used sophisticated deception tactics.”
“Recovering Feldman’s body required a complex intelligence and operational campaign, during which Mossad assets risked their lives. Although the team was initially barred from digging at a certain location, it ultimately returned under the cover of an elaborate ruse that enabled its presence,” the newspaper observed.
The Ynetnews disclosed that “Mossad agents posing as a non-Israeli team” ventured “deep inside Syria” to locate and bring back the body.
Israel did not seek the help of Syria’s newly installed Islamist regime for the extraction. According to the Jerusalem Post, “the new government was not involved in the operation.”
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