Syrian group says it is holding soldier

A previously unknown Syrian group hinted that it’s holding an Israeli soldier who went missing a decade ago. The so-called Resistance Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights issued a statement this week demanding that Israel release Syrian and other Arab prisoners, adding that only such a gesture would secure the return of Guy Hever, an army conscript who disappeared from a northern base in 1997. “Zionists, do not think that your millions of dollars will bring you back the soldier missing in the Golan. You know very well how he will return,” the statement said. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said the veracity of the report was being checked. Israel has said it assumes Hever is alive, and offered bounties for information that could lead to his return.