An Israeli woman was liberated by Syria while Israel returned two shepherds to the Syrian-controlled side of Golan Heights.
Syria has released an Israeli woman after Israel returned two shepherds to the Syrian-controlled side of Golan Heights amid a prisoner of prisoners with central Russia.
The woman, who has not been publicly identified, had crossed the border into Syria several days ago, urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to approach Russian President Vladimir Putin in efforts to release, Netanyahu’s office said.
The young woman was on her way home, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Thursday, following media reports that Russia had centralized the exchange of prisoners.
Little is known about why the woman entered Syria. Israeli media have said she was a resident of an ultra-rectangular settlement on the West Bank, while Syrian media reported that she entered the Syrian territory unknowingly after crossing from Golan Heights in Israel.
The media also reported that Syrian citizens from the Golan Heights, while arranging for the two Israeli prisoners, refused to return to Syria as part of the agreement, and that the shepherds were released in their place.
The shepherds were arrested several weeks ago after crossing a Syrian “Alpha” military line into an Israeli-controlled area.
They were captured east of the Israeli-built security fence on the Golan Heights, the Israeli Army said in a statement announcing their release under government control.
The Israeli army said it had released the shepherds to Red Cross representatives through the Quneitra Cross.
The state-run Syrian news agency (SANA) confirmed the news.
“Today, Syrian prisoners Mohammed Ahmed Hussein and Tarek Ghassab al-Obaidan, a resident of Quneitra governor, were released as part of the Syrian state’s efforts to free its citizens from Israeli residential prisons,” the group said. .
Russia has previously been a mediator between the two countries.
In 2019, Moscow helped return the remnants of the Israeli sergeant from Syria. He had been missing since the 1982 conflict between the nations. Israel had released two Syrian prisoners in exchange.
In recent years Russia has been the strongest ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s ongoing civil war. Moscow’s military intervention in 2015 turned the tide of war in Assad’s favor.