Russia searching for remains of 2 more missing IDF soldiers — senior official
Moscow presents Israel with Baumel’s jumpsuit, boots, in flag-covered coffin; Netanyahu heads back to Israel after meeting with Putin
After the return of the body of Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel, Russia is continuing to search for the remains of two other IDF soldiers who went missing in the same 1982 battle in the First Lebanon War, a senior diplomatic official said on Thursday.
Tank commander Baumel, a Brooklyn-born immigrant, was one of three Israeli soldiers whose bodies were never recovered following the battle of Sultan Yacoub, a skirmish between the Israel Defense Forces and Syrian army in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, in which 21 Israeli servicemen were killed and more than 30 were injured.
Though Baumel and the other two soldiers — Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz — were generally believed to have been killed in the battle, there was also speculation and reports that they had been captured by the Syrian military in Sultan Yacoub and brought to Damascus.
The remains of Feldman and Katz were not recovered in the operation to retrieve Baumel’s body, though Israeli officials initially thought Feldman’s body might have been among the other remains recovered in the operation, according to the Haaretz newspaper.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a press conference Thursday in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin at which the latter said his country’s military, with Syrian assistance, had retrieved the remains of the Israeli tank commander, allowing them to be returned to the Jewish state nearly 37 years after he went missing.
The diplomatic official, who asked not to be named, said the operation was evidence of the “special” connection between Jerusalem and Moscow, and that Russia’s help would not be coming with a “diplomatic price tag” linked to the situation in Syria.
The decision to release the information about the operation to the media will not impede the search for the remaining two soldiers, the official said.
“This was an operation by Russia and the Russian army at our request,” the official continued. “The prime minister met Putin some two years ago and raised the issue of Sultan Yacoub. We gathered intelligence, asked them to focus on it and Putin agreed to do it.”
The official denied accusations that the publication was timed to benefit Netanyahu in next week’s elections, saying the story was released to the media when the process of identifying Baumel’s DNA was completed.
Shortly after the official gave the statement, Netanyahu’s plane took off to return to Israel.
Netanyahu flew to Moscow early Thursday to meet the Russian leader for discussions on Syria and Iran.
After the meeting, the Russian defense ministry presented Israel with Baumel’s jumpsuit and military boots in an Israeli flag-covered coffin.
During the press conference, Netanyahu thanked Putin, saying Russian soldiers had “risked their lives” in order to bring back the remains, confirming the key role Moscow played in the search effort for the remains not only of Baumel but also of the two other IDF soldiers missing since the battle. Until then, Israeli officials were only permitted to say that a “third country” had assisted in the effort, without specifying which.
“Two years ago, I asked you to help us find the bodies of missing Israeli soldiers, and you responded in the affirmative. I want to thank you, my friend, for what you have done,” Netanyahu told Putin.
The Russian president confirmed that the effort to find the remains “was difficult for the special forces.”
In September, the Russian defense ministry said one of its soldiers had been injured in the operation.
“Terrorists suddenly attacked the Russian servicemen involved in the operation. One Russian officer was wounded. Despite that, Russia was willing to carry on with the operation,” Russian defense ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.
Baumel’s funeral was scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The announcement brought to a close a decades-long mission by Baumel’s Jerusalem-based, American-born parents to find their son, which included international pressure campaigns and faint hopes that he may have been captured alive during the brutal Sultan Yacoub tank battle.
Yona Baumel, Zachary’s father, died 10 years ago; his mother Miriam is in her 80s.
According to a Channel 13 news report Wednesday, Baumel’s body was returned together with the remains of at least 10 other people.
A commander of a Palestinian terrorist group in Syria said Wednesday Baumel’s remains were uncovered by armed factions at a Palestinian refugee camp outside Damascus.
Medical examiners at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute have reportedly examined most of the other bodies brought back, and have concluded that none of them were Feldman or Katz. The Channel 13 report said one body had yet to be ruled out as belonging to one of the two Israeli soldiers.
Feldman was a crewman in the same tank as Baumel. Katz served in another tank, which came under attack some two kilometers away.
Katz’s sister told Israeli television on Wednesday the family was holding out hope that he is alive.
