Hezbollah Abductor of Late IDF Reservists Goldwasser & Regev Dies of COVID-19 Complications

Photo Credit: Olivier Fitoussi / Flash 90

One of the Lebanese terrorists who took part in the Hezbollah abduction of the late IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser, z”l and Eldad Regev, z”l in 2006 — Mahmoud Melchem — has died from complications of COVID-19, according to a statement by Hezbollah.

Helchem was a resident of the village of Maidan in southeastern Lebanon, according to a report published in the Hebrew-language edition of Israel Hayom.

The abduction of the two IDF reservists triggered the start of the 2006 Second Lebanon War on July 12.

The bodies of Goldwasser and Regev were only returned to Israel on July 16, 2008; their abductors were never captured and continued to roam free.