Syria : Israel released prisoner

Israel has released a Syrian prisoner who served 27 years for resistance activities, the official Syrian Arab News Agency reported. "After 27 years of captivity and unjust detention on charges of resisting the Israeli occupation ... the Arab prisoner hero Sedki embraced freedom and returned to the occupied Golan," SANA said. Sedki al-Maket was arrested in August 1985 and released to his hometown of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, the news agency said. Al-Maket, now in his mid-40s, and five others formed a group called The Secret Resistance Movement. He stole grenades and mines from an Israeli military base, compiled information on Israeli military bases and troop movements, and was a member of a group that detonated explosives on an Israeli military base, the International Middle East Media Center said Wednesday. There was no official comment in Israel on the release. Majdal Shams is the largest of four Druze villages in the Golan Heights, an area occupied by Israel following the Six Days War in 1967.