Israel has recovered the body of US-born Israeli soldier, who had gone missing since a 1982 battle with Syrian forces during its invasion of Lebanon. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said Wednesday that the remains of Zachary Baumel had been returned to Israel and identified after nearly four decades of intelligence operations. Conricus declined to elaborate on how the return was arranged or where the remains were found, saying only that "an opportunity arose to locate the body." His disappearance had long vexed Israel. Baumel, a US citizen from New York, went missing in action (MIA) along with five other Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese village of Sultan Yacoub. Several years later, two of the missing soldiers were returned alive to Israel in prisoner exchanges, but the fate of the other three had remained unknown. “The last words he wrote to his parents, on a postcard before Sultan Yacoub, were: “Don’t worry, everything is fine, but I probably won’t be home for a while,’” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement. Netanyahu gave no details about how he was returned. In 2018, Russia - which Netanyahu is due to visit for talks with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday - said its troops in Syria had been trying to locate the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in previous conflicts. Two other Israeli tank crew members are still listed by the military as missing in action from the June 10-11, 1982 battle. Over the years, there had been unverified reports that Baumel and the other soldiers missing at Sultan Yacoub, Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz, might have survived the fighting and been captured. The fate of Israeli air force navigator Ron Arad, whose plane crashed in Lebanon in 1986, has also never been clarified. Israel hoped forensic tests might determine if Baumel was killed outright or died under other circumstances, Conricus said. Baumel’s father, Yona, who died in 2009, led an international campaign to discover whether his son might still be alive. “Today, we are lifting the uncertainty and closing a circle,” Netanyahu said, vowing continued efforts to discover the fate of Israel’s other MIAs. He said Baumel’s tank crewman overalls and Jewish religious garment were found with the soldier’s remains. “This is one of the most emotional moments I have experienced in all my years as prime minister,” said Netanyahu, who has been in office for the past decade and is vying for a fifth term in a closely contested election on April 9. In 2016, in a ceremony attended in Moscow by Netanyahu, Russia returned an Israeli tank that had been captured by Syria at Sultan Yacoub and transferred to a Russian museum.