Hezbollah
Hezbollah: Recent Developments
Posted: March 31, 2008
The bodies of Israeli reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose kidnapping prompted the 2006 Lebanon Warwere returned by Hezbollah in a prisoner exchange with Israel. Hezbollah held both bodies captive for two years without releasing any information about the men's fate or allowing the International Red Cross access to the men. In exchange for the two slain Israeli soldiers, Israel handed over its last five Lebanese prisoners and the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters. The exchange, which was brokered by the United Nations, occurred on July 16, 2008. A hero's welcome awaited the five Lebanese men in Beirut, including Samir Kuntar, who had been serving five life prison terms for an attack on the Israeli coastal town of Nahariya in 1979, leaving five Israelis dead, including two young children. In a speech to tens of thousands of Hezbollah supporters, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged that he ordered the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in an effort to free Kuntar and other prisoners in Israel.
Kuntar also spoke to the crowd, pledging to continue the resistance. "I return from Palestine, only to return to Palestine… in the resistance."
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