IDF forces, police and volunteers were carrying out widespread searches across the Golan Heights and northern Israel on Thursday after a soldier went missing there the day before.
The combat soldier reportedly left his unit on Wednesday during an exercise and was last seen in near the town of Katzrin in the Golan Heights.
His parents have asked that his personal details not be released in order to maintain his privacy, an army spokesperson said.
The case echoes that of the two-decades-old mystery of Artillery Corps sergeant Guy Hever, who left his post in the Golan Heights wearing a uniform and armed with a Galil assault rifle and hasn’t been heard from since.
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No trace of Hever has been found, and the case remains shrouded in mystery and conspiracy theories.
The army routinely launches fresh searches for Hever, most recently in November last year. The military initially resisted declaring Hever missing, though he now bears that official designation.
In the immediate wake of his disappearance, the army assumed that he’d simply gone AWOL, noting that Hever was slated to face a minor disciplinary hearing for missing a unit social event, the latest in a string of infractions, and had been slapped with a 21-day remand to base.
In the 19 years since Hever disappeared, a number of theories have been floated as to his whereabouts. Some surmise that the 20-year-old was kidnapped and spirited into Syria, where he is still being held today.
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