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Beirut welcomes freed prisoners | Beirut welcomes freed prisoners |
(20 minutes later) | |
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has personally welcomed five militants released by Israel after they arrived in Lebanon's capital, Beirut. | Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has personally welcomed five militants released by Israel after they arrived in Lebanon's capital, Beirut. |
The Israelis handed over the prisoners, along with the remains of 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters, in exchange for the remains of two soldiers. | The Israelis handed over the prisoners, along with the remains of 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters, in exchange for the remains of two soldiers. |
Their capture in 2006 sparked a month of war between Israel and Hezbollah. | Their capture in 2006 sparked a month of war between Israel and Hezbollah. |
Greeting the five returnees, Sheikh Nasrallah said the "age of defeats" was over and that of victories had arrived. | Greeting the five returnees, Sheikh Nasrallah said the "age of defeats" was over and that of victories had arrived. |
Hezbollah displayed coffins containing the bodies of the Israeli soldiers | |
The Israeli soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, were seized in 2006 but until now there had been no confirmation of their deaths. | The Israeli soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, were seized in 2006 but until now there had been no confirmation of their deaths. |
They are due to be given military funerals on Thursday. | |
The prisoners crossed into Lebanon in an exchange mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross. | |
Changing into combat fatigues, they stopped briefly in the coastal town of Naqoura before being flown to Beirut, where Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and other officials greeted them before Sheikh Nasrallah emerged to make a rare public appearance. | |
Red carpet | Red carpet |
Tens of thousands of Hezbollah supporters, some travelling by car or scooter, converged on the south of the Lebanese capital for a rally to celebrate the prisoners' release and listen to the group's leader speak. | |
PRISONER EXCHANGE From Hezbollah: Bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, and remains of other Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon in 2006From Israel: Five Lebanese prisoners, including Samir Qantar, and remains of some 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters Outlook bleak despite exchangeGermany's success as mediatorIn pictures: Prisoner exchange | PRISONER EXCHANGE From Hezbollah: Bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, and remains of other Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon in 2006From Israel: Five Lebanese prisoners, including Samir Qantar, and remains of some 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters Outlook bleak despite exchangeGermany's success as mediatorIn pictures: Prisoner exchange |
Sheikh Nasrallah's message, delivered in his first public appearance since September 2006 to cheering crowds, was that Hezbollah could not be defeated. | |
The best-known and most controversial of the released prisoners, gunman Samir Qantar who was jailed in 1979 for killing a four-year-old Israeli girl and two other people, also spoke. | |
He hailed Lebanon's "great Islamic resistance". | |
It is clear Hezbollah means to extract the maximum possible publicity from this event, the BBC's Crispin Thorold reports from the rally. | |
Earlier, President Suleiman welcomed the five ex-prisoners at Beirut airport as "resistance fighters coming back from the prisons of the occupier". | |
The country's most important politicians, from across the sectarian and factional divide, were present, our correspondent notes. | |
Hezbollah supporters converged on the south of the city | |
The event, which has caused so much pain in Israel, is being treated as a triumph in Lebanon, by supporters and opponents of Hezbollah alike, he adds. | |
Under the exchange - the fruit of two years of delicate German mediation - Hezbollah is also to return the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in south Lebanon in 2006. | |
The agreement has caused controversy in Israel, with some ministers opposed to exchanging live Hezbollah prisoners for dead bodies. | The agreement has caused controversy in Israel, with some ministers opposed to exchanging live Hezbollah prisoners for dead bodies. |
Qantar controversy | Qantar controversy |
Qantar had been in jail since 1979 for a deadly guerrilla raid in which he killed three Israelis, including a child. | |
class="lp" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/default.stm">HAVE YOUR SAYWhat kind of pathology can cause a society to celebrate such evil?Avi, London class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5115&edition=2&ttl=20080716113808">Send us your comments | |
His imprisonment was arguably a catalyst for the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, our correspondent says, as Lebanese militants captured the two Israeli soldiers to demand his release. | |
Ehud Goldwasser's father, Shlomo Goldwasser, said he was mystified by the Lebanese celebrations, coming after the recent war with Israel. | Ehud Goldwasser's father, Shlomo Goldwasser, said he was mystified by the Lebanese celebrations, coming after the recent war with Israel. |
"I cannot understand what the Lebanese are so glad about and happy about," he said. | "I cannot understand what the Lebanese are so glad about and happy about," he said. |
"They sacrificed over 700 of their best warriors and all their economy, and what they get for what they did is a murderer, a bloody murderer..." | |
Hezbollah withheld any information about when the soldiers had died and never released pictures of them in captivity, leaving it unclear whether they had been killed in the original raid. | Hezbollah withheld any information about when the soldiers had died and never released pictures of them in captivity, leaving it unclear whether they had been killed in the original raid. |
However, one Hezbollah official quoted by Lebanese TV on Wednesday confirmed that both soldiers had been seriously injured during the raid, and later died of their injuries. | However, one Hezbollah official quoted by Lebanese TV on Wednesday confirmed that both soldiers had been seriously injured during the raid, and later died of their injuries. |