After 43 years: Mossad & IDF recover body of fallen Israeli soldier from Syria

The body of IDF soldier Tzvi Feldman, who had been declared missing after a battle in Lebanon in 1982, was recovered from Syria in a special mission by the Mossad and the Israel Defense Forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, the foreign intelligence agency Mossad, and the IDF announced the recovery on Sunday morning.

“In a special Mossad and IDF operation, we have returned home the body of Sgt. First Class Tzvi Feldman, who fell in the Battle of Sultan Yacob in June 1982 during the First Lebanon War. For decades Tzvika has been missing and the efforts to locate him, as well as the other MIAs from the same battle, have not ceased,” Netanyahu stated.

The battle in the Bekaa Valley was one of the toughest of the war, pitting the Israeli military against Palestinian and Syrian forces. Thirty Israeli soldiers died, and five more went missing, two of whom were returned in prisoner exchanges several years later.

In 2019, the body of Zachary Baumel was returned to Israel with Russian assistance. The last soldier, Yehuda Katz, is still defined as missing in action.

Netanyahu continued: “Approximately six years ago, we returned for a Jewish burial, Sgt. First Class Zecharia Baumel; today we have returned Tzvika, of blessed memory. We will not cease our efforts to return Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz, who is also an MIA from the same battle.” 

Katz’s parents, Pnina and Avraham, have since passed away, Netanyahu said. According to his office, the prime minister personally visited Feldman’s remaining family to inform them that the body had been found and identified.

“For many years, I have approved many secret operations to locate the MIAs from Sultan Yacoub, and I promised the Feldman family that I would not stop taking action to bring Tzvi back home,” Netanyahu added.

“In this difficult hour, my heart is with the Feldman family, who endured decades of pain, uncertainty, and longing. We all bow our heads together with them today,” said Defense Minister Katz.

The IDF and the Mossad said in a joint statement that Feldman’s body was found deep within Syrian territory and returned “in a complex and covert operation.”

“After its return, it was identified at the Genomic Center for Casualty Identification of the Military Rabbinate, and a notification was delivered to his family by the IDF in the presence of the Prime Minister,” they added.

According to Army Radio, the operation lasted for months, with the final identification of the body coming over the past weekend.

Security officials emphasized that the operation didn’t involve any cooperation by the new Syrian government and is not connected to recent reports of indirect talks between Israel and new president Ahmad al-Sharaa.

However, they acknowledged that the fall of the Assad regime contributed to creating conditions enabling the recovery of Feldman’s body.

Soon after the collapse of the Assad regime, Feldman’s sister, Anat, told Israeli media: “The events in Syria are a rare window of opportunity. We hope this will bring Zvika home.”

“We’ve always said Zvika might be held somewhere. The state must act now – it’s a national responsibility,” she added.

Israel estimated that the bodies of at least five Israeli soldiers, including Feldman, were still being held in Syrian territory.

The IDF has a special unit dedicated to intelligence efforts to locate missing soldiers, the Military Intelligence Directorate's Repatriation Department.

The massive efforts to find the hundreds of Israelis who were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7 were concentrated in a newly established Abductees Command under Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, allowing the Repatriation Department to continue its work behind the scenes, even during the war.

“I would like to thank the Mossad, the IDF, the ISA and Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing, Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch, for decades of determined and courageous efforts of the highest order to return Tzvika and all of our missing and our hostages, the living and the deceased alike,” Netanyahu concluded his statement.

“In the words of the prophet Jeremiah (31:16): ‘There is hope for the future says the Lord, and your children shall return to their own border’.”