Human skeletal remains were found in the Sultan Yakoub area of southern Lebanon on Tuesday. One has been identified belonging to a Syrian soldier. The second has not yet been positively identified, but reports indicate it may be the remains of one of the IDF soldiers who disappeared in the 1982 battle; Yehuda Katz, Zechariah Baumel or Tzvi Feldman H”YD.

According to reports from Lebanese officials, a local farmer came across the bones while working in the area along with the identification of the Syrian soldier and his personal effects. Lebanese officials report the area was closed off, and Syrian officials were dispatched to take DNA samples towards making a positive identification.

Since the three disappeared, Mr. Yonah Baumel ob”m dedicated his life to finding out the disposition of the boys, hesder yeshiva soldiers. He unfortunately was unsuccessful, and was niftar at the age of 81 in 2009, as was reported by YWN-Israel.

During the First Lebanon War, on the night between June 10th and 11th 1982, IDF tanks found themselves engaged in a battle in Sultan Yakoub, in eastern southern Lebanon, with Syrian forces. The reserve duty tank force came under extremely heavy fire and began to pull back. When the smoke cleared, 20 soldiers had been killed and dozens wounded. It was also learned that an officer’s body was left in the battlefield two soldiers were taken captive and three were listed as MIA. The three were from two different tanks, with Yehuda Katz being in one and Baumel and Feldman in the second.

IDF soldier Chezi Shai, who was taken captive, was returned to Israel in the Jibril prisoner exchange in 1985. Ariel Lieberman was returned a year earlier, in 1984 along with the body of the officer who was killed, Zohar Lifshitz HY”D.

On December 2, 1993, then PA (Palestinian Authority) leader Yasser Arafat turned over half of the dog tag belonging to Baumel. Since that time, nothing new has been learned according to government officials.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)