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Israel, Hizbollah exchange prisoners

DUBAI: Two years after the summer war between Israel and Hizbollah, the two sides have exchanged prisoners, bodies and remains as part of a swap that has followed lengthy negotiations sponsored by the United Nations.

The Hizbollah has received five of its members, out of which four had been taken prisoners during the July-August war of 2006.

The fifth is Samir Qantar, a high profile individual who has spent 30 years in an Israeli prison. Along with them, Israel has returned 199 bodies of Lebanese, Palestinians and Arabs who had been killed after crossing into Israel from Lebanon during earlier conflicts dating back to1978.

Hizbollah has also received eight bodies of its fighters, who were killed in the 2006 war.

Besides, it has received the remains of Dalal Mughrabi, a woman who led a raid into Israel in 1978.

The complex negotiations that had preceded the swap had also covered the release of four Iranian diplomats who have been, for several years, remained in Israeli custody.

Israel, on its part received on Wednesday morning, bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev — its two soldiers who had been captured by Hizbollah in 2006.

Israeli forensic experts confirmed five hours after the coffins had been received that the bodies were indeed of Goldwasser and Regev.

Hizbollah has also returned the remains of 10 Israeli soldiers who were killed during the 2006 war.

The seizure of the two soldiers had triggered an over a month-long conflict between Israel and Hizbollah, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel.

The swap took place at the Naqoura-Rosh Hanikra crossing on the Israel-Lebanon border under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The Hizbollah, which described the process which led to the exchange as “Operation Al-Redwan”, said it had captured the two Israeli soldiers to free all Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.

However, freeing Mr. Qantar was the centerpiece of its negotiating strategy. Hizbollah General Secretary, Hassan Nasrallah, explained at a press conference on July 3 that the decision to seize the two soldiers was linked to the negotiations with Israel about Ron Arad — an Israeli aviator who had been shot down over Lebanon in 1986. Had the negotiations over Ron Arad, which were linked to Mr. Qantar’s release, been decisive, the capture of the two Israeli soldiers in 2006 would have been obviated, he said.

Hizbollah supporters set up a makeshift stage in Naqoura, where a brief ceremony was held. An official ceremony will follow at Beirut Airport and will be attended by President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Celebratory banners and flags were hoisted along the highway between Naqoura to Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon.

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