ID :
408157
Mon, 05/30/2016 - 12:23
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Netanyahu thanks Putin for decision to return tank lost during First Lebanon War to Israel

TEL AVIV, May 29. /TASS/. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his decision to return to Israel a Magach tank lost by the Israeli army in a fight against Syrian forces in the early 1980 during the First Lebanon War, the Israeli prime minister’s office said on Sunday. "I thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for acceding to my request to return to Israel the tank from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub (in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon)," the office quoted Netanyahu as saying. "The tank is the only evidence of the battle and now it is coming back to Israel thanks to President Putin's response to my request." "Over the weekend Israel received notice that Russian President Putin had acceded to Prime Minister Netanyahu's request to return the tank - which the Syrians had delivered to the Russian army and is currently at the armored corps museum in Moscow - to Israel," the office said. The issue was raised during Netanyahu’s visit to Moscow in April. His next visit to Russia is to take place on June 7. "An IDF Armored Corps delegation is currently in Moscow and - along with Russian army personnel - is considering how to transfer the tank to Israel forthwith," the office added. The Magach tank has been used as an exhibit at a museum outside Moscow since the 1980s. The First Lebanon War, which lasted from June to September 1982, was the scene of fighting between the Israeli and Syrian armies. Read more

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