Body of soldier Zvi Feldman, missing for 43 years, recovered from Syria by Mossad, IDF

 The Mossad spy agency and the Israel Defense Forces recovered the remains of Sgt. First Class Zvi Feldman, who went missing in the First Lebanon War’s battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982, officials announced on Sunday.

The battle, nearly 43 years ago, was a skirmish between the IDF and the Syrian army in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. It claimed the lives of 21 Israeli servicemen, and more than 30 were injured during it.

Feldman, a tank soldier, went missing during the battle along with Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz and Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel. Baumel’s remains were recovered and returned to Israel in 2019.

In a joint statement on Sunday, the Mossad and IDF said the body of Feldman was recovered from “the heart of Syria” in a special operation.

They said 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 military said the efforts to locate the body had been ongoing for decades.

Defense officials said the operation to recover the remains was carried out by non-Israeli Mossad agents. The team operated deep inside Syria, dozens of kilometers from the Israeli border, to retrieve the body, while risking their lives.

The agents, operating on behalf of Mossad, had a cover story and had been inside Syria for several years. In the past five months, following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, there were breakthroughs in the case and an opportunity to recover Feldman’s remains, the officials said.

The agents visited a graveyard several times, obtaining various findings that were sent to Israel for identification. Eventually findings matched Feldman’s DNA. The team also found the remains of the tank soldier’s overalls.

Officials said the team operated “under fire” during the mission.

The remains belonging to Feldman, including his overalls, were brought to Israel for identification some two weeks ago. Feldman’s family was notified early Sunday once the identification process was completed.

“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 Mossad, IDF, Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Israel Katz all said 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 Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz and fulfill our duty for him and his family,” the defense minister said.

Baumel’s body was recovered with Russian assistance from the Yarmouk refugee camp, home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in Syria. In 2016, an Israeli tank lost in the battle was returned to Israel by Russia.

The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries.

Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (9 miles) deep into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces.”

The Hostages Forum, which represents the majority of relatives of those held captive in Gaza, welcomes the return of Feldman’s body, while calling for the return of the remaining hostages, living and dead.

“The families of the hostages would like to extend a big hug to the Feldman family and to every family that is privileged to bring their loved one to burial,” the forum said in a statement.

“The return of Zvi Feldman is a moral, ethical and national reminder to the prime minister and members of the government — a grave is not a privilege, but a basic duty of the state to its citizens and fighters. In Israel, no one is left behind,” it said.

“As a society, we must not normalize a situation in which families have to wait over 40 years or more to be reunited with their loved ones,” it said.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF, one of whom is a soldier killed a decade ago. Israel has said there are grave concerns for the lives of a further three.