The remains of Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz, who went missing in the First Lebanon War’s battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982, have been returned to Israel, the military announced.
The battle, 44 years ago, was a skirmish between the IDF and the Syrian army in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. It claimed the lives of 21 Israeli servicemen, and more than 30 were injured during it.
Katz, a tank soldier, went missing during the battle along with Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel and Sgt. First Class Zvi Feldman.
Baumel’s remains were recovered with Russian assistance and returned to Israel in 2019, and Feldman’s remains were recovered by Mossad agents in May 2025.
In a statement, the IDF said that in an operation led by the Military Intelligence Directorate, in coordination with the Mossad spy agency, Katz’s bones were located and brought to Israel for kevurah. The bones were taken for identification, and confirmed to belong to Katz.
Israel has also been working diligently to recover the remains of Israeli navigator Ron Arad from Lebanon, as well as those of Mossad agent Eli Cohen from Syria.
Arad was captured in 1986 and later presumed dead, and Cohen was executed in Damascus in 1965.
