JERUSALEM – Israel and Syria have fought several wars, never had diplomatic relations and still contest the sovereignty of a piece of land, the Golan Heights, which was confiscated by Israel from Syria in 1967.
But on Thursday, the two countries shared a rare moment of indirect cooperation, participating in a Russian-mediated prisoner exchange that saw an Israeli woman held captive by Syria exchanged by two Syrian shepherds captured by Israel, the Israeli government announced in Friday morning.
“Israel has always done and will always do everything in its power to bring our citizens back,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
The woman was not named. But she is in her 20s, comes from near Jerusalem and has a history of attempts to enter Israel’s neighbors illegally, an Israeli official said. She entered Syria by land in early February before being arrested by Syrian authorities, who quickly realized that she was a civilian, not a spy, the official said.
The exact circumstances of his entry are unclear and will be the subject of an investigation by Israeli officials after his return.
After mediation by Russia, which is an ally of Syria with a large military presence in the country, the woman was flown to Moscow, the official said. There, she was received on Thursday night by an Israeli team that included a former intelligence officer, Yaron Blum, who has a history of involvement in prisoner exchanges.
His transfer was preceded by the release of two Syrian shepherds who had been captured by Israel after crossing overland to the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
The Golan Heights was occupied by Israel during the 1967 war between Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, and is home to some 20,000 Druze Arabs. Most of the territory is divided by a border fence, but it is possible to cross the border in the most mountainous parts of the region, where it is difficult to build a well-fortified barrier.
Israeli officials have been communicating about the case with Russian colleagues since at least February 8. To facilitate the exchange, Netanyahu spoke twice with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
But the possibility of an exchange was kept secret until Tuesday, for fear of compromising the deal.
The Israeli woman was first to be exchanged for two Arab residents of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel, who were being held by Israeli authorities.
But one of them, Diyab Qahmuz, in prison for smuggling explosives from Lebanon to Israel, according to Israeli media, refused to be sent to Syria. The second, Nihal al-Maqt, is still subject to further questioning by the Israeli domestic intelligence agency, the official said.
Syrian pastors were then quickly lined up as substitutes, leading to his release at a crossing of the Syrian border on Thursday afternoon, and the subsequent delivery of the woman to Moscow. It was not clear on Friday whether she had already left the Russian capital to return to Israel.
“The State of Israel wishes to express its appreciation for the actions of the President of Russia,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said in a statement.
Russia has mediated similar episodes in the past. In 2016, Putin helped facilitate the return of an Israeli tank captured by Syrian troops in southern Lebanon in 1982. Three years later, the Kremlin mediated the return of the remains of a tank driver killed in the same battle, Zachary Baumel.
Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.