Woman returned from Syrian was earlier spotted by Hezbollah on Lebanon border

A journalist affiliated with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement has published pictures on social media purporting to show the Israeli woman who crossed the border into Syria surveilling the Lebanese frontier from Israel.

According to al-Manar’s Ali Choeib, the woman was seen near the border in a SUV with an open window in October 2020. At the time, tensions on the border were higher than normal due to Israeli fears of a Hezbollah counterattack following the killing of a commander in Syria.

According to Ynet, the woman was stopped at the time by a senior IDF officer near the border, warned about the danger of being there, and sent away.

The woman was returned to Israel Friday via a swap deal brokered by Russia, two weeks after crossing the border into Syria. Details of the affair, including the woman’s name and pictures of her, have been censored by the military.

תמונותיה של הצעירה הישראלית כפי שצולמו בידי חיזבאללה באוקטובר 2020 תוך כדי התרעה חמה לפיגוע על גדר גבול לבנון מול הכפר עיטא א שעב. בחיזבאללה חשבו בזמנו שמדובר בלוחמת צהל או אשת מודיעין על אזרחי. הסיפור שונה לגמרי. הצעירה עדיין נמצאת הבוקר בתשאול של השבכ בשל המעבר לסוריה. pic.twitter.com/EmhsBPzcaF

— Or Heller אור הלר (@OrHeller) February 21, 2021