The army ID tag belonging to the late Sgt.-Maj. Ron Mashiach was among the remains of IDF soldiers returned in a unilateral move by Hizbullah on Sunday.

The 33-year-old Hadera man, a helicopter technician, was one of five soldiers who were killed when the Yassur CH-53 Sikorsky helicopter aboard which he was serving was shot down by Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War. Mashiach left a wife, Sivan, who was at the time six months pregnant with the couple's son, as well as his parents and two older brothers.

ID Tag Paraded as Proof of Nasrallah's Claims

The ID tag was shown in the Lebanese media earlier this year, when the Hizbullah-backed Al-Akhbar newspaper printed a photo to substantiate claims by the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, that IDF body parts had been left behind on the battlefield.

In a rare public appearance at a Shi'ite religious event in Beirut, Nasrallah told thousands of celebrants, "We have the heads, the hands, the feet and even a nearly intact cadaver from the head down to the pelvis. The Israeli army left behind the remains of the bodies of a large number of soldiers."



The soldier's father-in-law told Ynet at the time that Mashiach's body arrived intact and was buried in "a dignified military funeral." Yaakov Keidar added that responding to Nasrallah's taunts was simply playing into the terrorist's emotional blackmail. "We won't give him the satisfaction," he said.



Remains of Three Soldiers Identified

Although forensic experts initially predicted the process "could take weeks," the remains of three IDF soldiers have been identified within a day after the box was transferred to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.

Military sources confirmed that 20 soldiers' bodies were brought back from the front in conditions that were less than intact. Information on each soldier was meticulously documented, including which body parts were missing, and DNA samples were collected.

The box that was given to Israel by Hizbullah contained several bags of human tissue and bones; it is this material that is being matched up with the DNA database at Abu Kabir.

Army officials reportedly contacted the families of at least 10 soldiers whose remains they suspected might have been among those that were returned by the terrorists.

More IDF Body Parts Remain in Enemy Hands

Lebanese military sources added Monday that Hizbullah has more body parts of IDF soldiers that it did not give to Israel on Sunday. The sources told the Lebanese newspaper A-Sapir that the terrorist organization hopes to use the additional remains as leverage to pressure Israel to agree to a prisoner swap deal in the near future.

"The problem is, dog that he is, Hassan Nasrallah can deliver," said one Israeli Bedouin, who spoke with IsraelNationalNews.com on condition of anonymity. "You can say whatever else you want to about him and you might be right, but if Nasrallah says he has the body parts of our soldiers – he's got them."

"Nasrallah is a wily man," the Bedouin said.  "He has an entire network, bigger than the government at this point, having worked his way into the army right under their noses. Now he has the whole country under his thumb.  But I doubt he even lives there; too much risk that the Israelis would catch up with him."