Palestinian ex-prisoner Ahmad Khamis who had been released from Israeli jails as part of an Israel-Russian swap deal was re-arrested by Syrian security forces.

Informed sources told AGPS that Khamis has been subjected to exhaustive interrogation by Syrian intelligence officers after he was transferred from an Israeli jail to Syria via Red Cross staff.

The Syrian government forces kept him in custody at Palestine Branch 235. His condition has been unknown.

Khamis, a resident of Yarmouk Camp, in Damascus, was released from Israeli jails a few months earlier and was taken back to Syria, in what media sources described as Russian-mediated reciprocation for the repatriation of the body of the long-missing Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel.

Khamis was kidnapped in April 2005, allegedly after he attempted to creep into an Israeli military base and carry out an anti-occupation operation in the occupied Golan Heights. He was sentenced to 18 years in jail and spent 14 years of the term.

Israeli news outlets reported that Ahmed wished to be sent to the Palestinian city of AlKhalil, where he was supposed to marry his partner.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity said at the time that Israel agreed to release the prisoner as a "goodwill gesture" after the return of the remains of Zachary Baumel earlier this month.

Israel's military announced on 3 April that Baumel's remains, missing since the 1982 Lebanon war, had been returned, bringing to a close a highly sensitive case for Israelis.

The announcement came less than a week before hotly contested Israeli elections, which saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu win a fifth term in office.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a visit by Netanyahu that the remains had been found by the Russian and Syrian armies, in a context where Moscow has a military presence in Syria to support President Bashar AlAssad.

But Syrian Information Minister Imad Sara said on 4 April that Damascus had no knowledge of plans to repatriate the remains, nor was it aware of the details behind the discovery of the body and its subsequent transfer.