A young Israeli woman detained after crossing the border entered Syria at Moscow’s Ben-Gurion Airport in the early hours of Friday, following a prison exchange with central Russia between Jerusalem and Damascus.
The woman was expected to be questioned by Shin Bet security service about the circumstances in which she was recently detained in Syria.
In exchange for her return, Israel transferred to Syria two Syrian shepherds arrested after crossing the border and pardoned Nihal al-Mkat, a Druze prisoner of Israel.
Israel provided further compensation although that information is barred from disclosure.
The 25-year-old woman was reportedly deported to Russia, from which she was recovered by a plane carrying an Israeli delegation led by Prime Minister’s Office chief of staff Asher Hayun , the coordinator for negotiating the Return of POWs and MIAs Yaron Blum, representatives of the National Security Council and a doctor.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced early Friday that they had terminated the exchange to take the woman home.
Netanyahu thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for helping to streamline the deal, saying he had reached out to the director for help.
“I asked for his help, and in fact he acted,” Netanyahu said, shouting to the Russian leader “my friend.”
Although little is known about why the woman entered Syria, Israeli media reported that this was not her first attempt to cross the border, adding that she was a person -residence in the ultra-rectangular settlement of the Modi’in Illit West Bank.
According to claims by Syrian media, however, the woman entered the Syrian territory unknowingly after crossing from the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.
Syrian official media reported on the deal that unfolded Wednesday, saying two Syrians were to be exchanged for an Israeli woman.
The two “children of Syrian Golan Heights” have been identified as Nihal al-Makt, who was housebound in her hometown, and Diab Kahamuz, who is serving a 14-year sentence for his role in the Hezbollah bomb plot.
But the situation escalated into problems after al-Makt and Kahamuz, both from the Golan, refused to move to Syria.