4 Israel soldiers accidentally stranded in Jordan

Four Israeli soldiers were accidentally left behind by their group on the Jordanian side of the border at the beginning of this month after their commander did not notice their disappearance, the country’s military announced yesterday.

According to a military spokesperson who confirmed the error to the Times of Israel, the non-combat soldiers who serve in a telecommunications unit were stuck on the Jordanian side of the border fence for around half an hour before being picked up.

The incident took place on the night of 2 December following a mission to repair electronic equipment. Although they were allegedly still within official Israeli territory, the position a few kilometres south of Syria and next to the Yarmouk River was surrounded by an active minefield. They were also escorted and accompanied by tanks and infantry soldiers.

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Upon finishing their maintenance work, the two technicians and two drivers relaxed in their vehicle while waiting for the rest of the group to reassemble and prepare to leave, switching off their headlights and reclining their seats back.

Despite the four soldiers later claiming that they did not fall asleep, the rest of the group nevertheless left the area due to the commander being unaware of the missing vehicle and failing to conduct a count of the vehicles and soldiers until the team had returned to the fence’s locked gate.

In the early hours of the morning, the stranded soldiers were then retrieved and returned to the Israeli side of the border fence.

Although it was described as an unexpected error by the Israeli military, this is not the first time that Israeli forces have crossed the borders into neighbouring states to conduct operations, with Israeli special forces having entered the demilitarised zone with Syria to destroy two Syrian military outposts in a secret operation in September.