Soldier survives Syria firefight with bullet lodged in his heart

Another soldier was saved when his helmet stopped a round inches from his skull.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A soldier who was critically wounded in an IDF operation early Friday morning in Syria will recover after emergency surgery, even as the bullet that nearly killed him remains lodged in his heart.

The man had been wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot, which slowed the bullet down enough that it penetrated the walls of tissue separating the left and right sides of the heart but did not pass completely through.

He underwent a “complex and challenging operation,” according to Prof. Gil Bolotin, head of the cardiothoracic surgery department at Rambam Hospital, where the soldier was immediately flown after the battle.

“It included opening the chest both from the side and the front in order to stop the source of the bleeding,” he said.

When they found the embedded bullet, he said, “in a quick consultation we unanimously decided to leave it alone…. Later we’ll see how to continue treatment. We may have to operate again to remove the bullet from the heart, we may decide to do it by catheterization, and there is definitely a possibility that the ball will remain where it is.”

The patient was stable and communicating with those around him in the intensive care unit, the doctor said.

Six soldiers in all were wounded in the raid to capture two brothers who were members of the Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya terror group and were planning imminent attacks on Israel in Beit Jinn, a village about seven kilometers inside Syrian territory.

At least 13 terrorists were killed in the firefight that began as the Israeli troops were leaving with their prisoners, according to the IDF.

One other soldier also underwent life-saving surgery at Rambam, and is now in stable condition, with a third soldier in serious condition and the others either moderately or lightly hurt.

i24NEWS reported Sunday that another one of the wounded was also saved by his military gear.

A bullet went through the Kevlar coating of the man’s helmet and stopped with its point sticking out of the inner padding, without touching the soldier’s head, the report said.

Two other bullets hit him in the leg, however, causing moderate injuries.

A picture of the embedded bullet has been making the rounds on the internet, with people calling it a “miracle” that the soldier was not killed.