World

Hezbollah returns dead Israeli bodies

by Sanjay Jha | July 15, 2008 at 11:44 pm | 122 views | 1 comment | 5 recommendations

Nassrallah Holds Press Conference Before Prisoner Swap

Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap deal has entered into rough patch. Despite agreeing to release two Isreali soldiers under swap deal, Hezbollah has said that both Israeli soldiers are dead. Exchange would have been a moment of jubiliation for Hezbollah. But it seems Israeli's didn't have good luck.

Two Israeli soldiers who were part of a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah are dead, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has said.
Video footage showed two coffins being brought out of a car, as Israel and Hezbollah began the process of exchanging prisoners.
Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were seized in a cross-border raid in 2006.
The bodies will be DNA tested to confirm their identity, then Israel will release five Lebanese prisoners.
The process of identifying the Israelis could take several hours.
The Lebanese men are being taken to the Rosh Hanikra border crossing on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Israel will also hand over the remains of some 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters killed in northern Israel.
The exchange is being mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
'Moral obligation'
The capture of the two Israeli soldiers sparked a 33-day war.
Lebanon has declared a national holiday to mark the swap, after which Israel will hold no more Hezbollah militants.
Under the deal - the fruit of two years of delicate German mediation - Hezbollah is also to return the body parts of Israeli soldiers killed in south Lebanon in 2006.
The agreement has caused controversy in Israel, with some ministers opposed to the possibility of exchanging live Hezbollah prisoners for dead bodies.