Israel released two more Syrian prisoners back to the occupied Golan Heights on Friday, a second goodwill gesture to Russia for helping find the remains of an Israeli soldier missing for over 35 years.
The latest release was part of a swap that began last April. That's when Israel, with help from Russia, recovered the remains of the soldier, Zachary Baumel. In return, Israel released two Syrian prisoners to their home country that same month.
Baumel, a U.S. citizen from New York, went missing in 1982 along with five other Israeli soldiers during a fierce battle with Syrian forces in Lebanon.
Druze men carry Sidqi al-Maqt, left, and Amal Abu Saleh as they wave Syrian flags upon their release from Israeli prison in the village of Majdal Shams on the border with Syria Friday, Jan. 10, 2020. (AP PhotoAriel Schalit)
Russian special forces discovered Baumel's remains. Russia is a close ally of the Syrian government in the country's ongoing civil war, while Israel frequently strikes targets linked to Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which back the government.
The goodwill gesture's timing game came just a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Damascus and met with President Bashar Assad.
The two Syrian men who were released Friday had been arrested separately in 2015 — one on charges of spying for Syria and the other for killing another Syrian citizen in the Golan Heights.
Druze clergymen look at Sidqi al-Maq and Amal Abu Saleh upon their release from Israeli prison in the village of Majdal Shams on the border with Syria Friday, Jan. 10, 2020. (AP PhotoAriel Schalit)
The two arrived at the Druze village of Majdal Shams, located in the part of the Golan Heights that Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed. Relatives and friends waving Syrian flags greeted the men.
Most of the Golan's Arab and Druze residents, who make about half of the area’s 50,000 population, declined Israeli citizenship as a show of loyalty to Syria. They hold Israeli residency status, but an identity crisis has simmered for decades.
“This is a very special moment. This is a moment of victory for the Syrian will,” said Sidqi al-Maqt, one of the freed prisoners as he arrived in a symbolic visit to the Quneitra border checkpoint.
Druze women look at Sidqi al-Maq and Amal Abu Saleh upon their release from Israeli prison in the village of Majdal Shams on the border with Syria Friday, Jan. 10, 2020. (AP PhotoAriel Schalit)
Al-Maqt, 53, was serving an 11-year sentence for charges including espionage and treason. The other, Amal Abu Saleh, 26, was sentenced to seven years for attacking an Israeli ambulance and killing a Syrian wounded in the ongoing fighting in neighboring Syria.
It’s unclear if the exchange was related to Israeli efforts to release an Israeli woman detained while transiting through a Moscow airport in possession of a few grams of marijuana. Russia upheld the seven-and-a-half-year imprisonment sentence against the tourist, Naama Issachar.
Fares Akram in Gaza contributed reporting.
Druze clergymen watch Sidqi al-Maq and Amal Abu Saleh upon their release from Israeli prison in the village of Majdal Shams on the border with Syria Friday, Jan. 10, 2020. (AP PhotoAriel Schalit)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that Israel must still do more to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip and that he would use his current Middle East trip — his seventh to the region since the Israel-Hamas war started in October — to press that case with Israeli leaders.
Speaking at events in Riyadh, Blinken said the best way to ease the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza would be to conclude an elusive cease-fire agreement that would release hostages held by Hamas. And, he said Hamas had been presented with an “extraordinarily generous” offer by Israel that he hoped the group would accept.
“Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel and in this moment the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and ceasefire is Hamas," he said at a World Economic Forum gathering in the Saudi capital.
"They have to decide, and they have to decide quickly. So, we’re looking to that and I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision and we can have a fundamental change in the dynamic,” Blinken said.
Although talks continue, Hamas has thus far balked at a series of offers negotiated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States and agreed to by Israel, and even without a deal, Blinken said it was critical to improve conditions in Gaza now.
“We’re also not waiting on a cease-fire to take the necessary steps to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza,” Blinken told Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers earlier Monday.
"We have seen measurable progress in the last few weeks, including the opening of new crossings and increased volume of aid delivery to Gaza and within Gaza, and the building of the U.S. maritime corridor, which will open in the coming weeks. But it is not enough. We still need to get more aid in and around Gaza,” he said.
“We need to improve deconfliction with humanitarian assistance workers. And we have to find greater efficiency and greater safety and deconfliction is at the heart of that. And, finally we have to make sure that we’re focusing not just on inputs, but on impact.”
Scores of relief workers have been killed since the conflict began, and a deadly Israeli attack on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza this month only highlighted the dangers and difficulties of protecting them. Israel has said the strike was a mistake and has disciplined officials involved.
World Central Kitchen says it would resume operations in Gaza on Monday after a four-week suspension.
The war has ground on since Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel with little end in sight: more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, hundreds of thousands more are displaced and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening.
The conflict has fueled mass protests around the world that have spread to American college campuses. U.S. support for Israel, particularly arms transfers, has come under particular criticism, something the administration is keenly aware poses potential problems for U.S. President Joe Biden in an election year.
Blinken's trip comes amid renewed concerns about the conflict spreading in the Middle East and with once-promising prospects for Israeli-Saudi rapprochement effectively on hold as Israel refuses to consider one of the Saudis' main conditions for normalized relations: the creation of a Palestinian state.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been warning Israel against a major military operation on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting further north. Israel has not yet launched such an offensive, but Netanyahu has repeatedly said that one will take place, asserting that it is the only way to wipe out Hamas.
Both topics were discussed during the Biden-Netanyahu phone call on Sunday, according to the White House and U.S. officials.
During his trip, Blinken said he would also underscore the absolute importance of not allowing the Israel-Hamas conflict to engulf the region.
The danger of conflagration was underscored this month when a suspected Israeli attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria prompted an unprecedented direct missile and drone response by Iran against Israel. An apparent retaliatory Israeli strike on Iran followed.
Although the tit-for-tat cycle appears to have ended for now, deep concerns remain that Iran or its proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria or Yemen could act in such a way as to provoke a greater response from Israel or that Israel might take action that Iran feels it must retaliate for.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday April 29, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday April 29, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, shakes hands with Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday April 29, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken walk to a Joint Ministerial Meeting of the GCC-U.S. Strategic Partnership to discuss the humanitarian crises faced in Gaza in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday April 29, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second right, walk to a Joint Ministerial Meeting of the GCC-U.S. Strategic Partnership to discuss the humanitarian crises faced in Gaza, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday April 29, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday April 29, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, speaks WEF's President Borg Brende during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday April 29, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday April 29, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gestures as he departs for Saudi Arabia in the latest Gaza diplomacy push, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Saturday, April 28, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken salutes as he gets ready to depart for Saudi Arabia in the latest Gaza diplomacy push, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Saturday, April 28, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken exits a vehicle as he gets ready to depart for Saudi Arabia in the latest Gaza diplomacy push, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Saturday, April 28, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gestures as he departs for Saudi Arabia in the latest Gaza diplomacy push, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Saturday, April 28, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
