Israel Buys Covid Vaccines For Syria In Prisoner Deal: Reports

Israel paid Russia USD 1.2 million to provide the Syrian government with coronavirus vaccine doses as part of a deal that secured the release of an Israeli woman held captive in Damascus, according to Israeli media reports.

The terms of the clandestine trade-off orchestrated by Moscow between the two enemy nations remained murky. But the fact that Israel is providing vaccines to Syria — an enemy country hosting hostile Iranian forces — has drawn criticism at home. It has also drawn attention to Israel's refusal to provide significant quantities to millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "not one Israeli vaccine" was involved in the deal. But he did not address the issue of whether Israel paid for Russian vaccines, and he said Russia insisted on keeping details of the swap secret.

The Prime Minister's Office has declined further comment.

Israel announced on Friday it had reached a Russian-mediated deal to bring home a young woman who had crossed the border into neighboring Syria earlier this month. In exchange, Israel said it had released two Syrian shepherds who had entered Israeli territory.

As part of the prisoner swap mediated by Moscow, Israel paid Russia to supply Syria with an undisclosed number of doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, according to Israeli media reports. The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which bankrolled the development of Sputnik V, said in November it will cost less than USD 10 per dose on international markets.

In turn, Syria released an Israeli citizen who entered the country illegally and Israel returned two Syrian shepherds that had entered the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, according to the reports.

The Syrian state news agency has denied the existence of such a deal.

The released Israeli woman returned to Israel via Moscow and was questioned by Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency. The 25-year-old woman hails from the predominantly ultra-Orthodox town of Modiin Ilit and had previously attempted to cross Israel's borders with the Gaza Strip and Jordan, according to Israeli media.

The woman reportedly crossed into Syrian territory from the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed in 1981, a move not widely recognized internationally.

Her identity and motivation for crossing into Syria were not released by Israeli officials.