Russian official: Israel to release Syrian prisoners for remains of Baumel

Israel made an agreement to release Syrians held in Israeli prisons in return for the remains of IDF soldier who went missing in action during the First Lebanon War in 1982, Russia’s Special Envoy to Syria said.

“In Russia we are very sensitive to the search for missing and dead people, even from World War II,” Alexander Lavrentiev said in an interview with Russia’s RT broadcaster in Arabic.

“For this reason, when the decision to transfer the body was made, we thanked the Syrian side for their understanding,” he said. “But this action was not unilateral — Israel made a decision, which it will have to carry out later, to release some of the Syrian citizens who are in Israeli jails.”

The body’s retrieval “paid off for Syria in the end,” Lavrentyev said, adding that Russia “would never act in way that contradicts Syria’s interests.”

Sgt. Zachary Baumel’s remains were repatriated to Israel earlier this month, close to 40 years after he went missing following the battle of Sultan Yacoub, a skirmish between the IDF and the Syrian army in the Bekaa Valley of June 1982.

An Israeli official confirmed that Syrian prisoners are to be released, and was quoted by Hebrew media as saying that the decision to release the two prisoners was made after Baumel’s remains were repatriated to Israel from Syria.

While Israeli law stipulates that such a decision must go through the cabinet, the official said that their release was approved by attorney general Avichai Mandelblit and the pardon was signed by President Reuven Rivlin.

The president of Israel the authority to pardon convicted felons or to commute their sentences.

Israel has denied that his remains were part of any prisoner exchange, with IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis telling reporters that  that it was an operational mission carried out by military intelligence.

Israel holds several pro-Syrian Druze activists in prison, and according to reports in Hebrew press two Syrian prisoners will be released by Israel as a sign of good will, not part of any preconceived prisoner exchange.

His body was retrieved by Russian forces from the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria’s capital of Damascus earlier this month. According to report in Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen, Anwar Raja of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) – a pro-Syrian regime Palestinian militia– said that the remains had been found as they were excavating graves in the old Martyr’s cemetery.

The report said that  the locating of the remains was done in coordination with Israeli intelligence in an operation called Bittersweet Song.

Israel’s Operation Bittersweet Song took two years to complete and was made possible by Israel’s close cooperation with Russia. According to a report in Ynet News, former defense minister Avigdor Liberman had pushed for the operation to take place. The operation, Ynet reported, was brought to a standstill in September following the downing of a Russian military aircraft during an Israeli operation.

That same month Russia claimed that its military worked with Israel on an operation to locate the remains of the fallen IDF soldiers that were in Syrian territory, which had been under the control of Islamic State.

Baumel’s remains, along with his jumpsuit and shoes, were transferred from Syria to Russia and then to Israel in early April together with the remains of some 20 other bodies.

He was laid to rest at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

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