Hezbollah swaps prisoners with Israel

Hezbollah on Wednesday handed over black coffins it said contained the remains of two Israeli soldiers seized two years ago, in a prisoner swap greeted with triumph in Lebanon but anguish in Israel."Today we hand over Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev," Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa said at the Naqura border crossing between Lebanon and Israel as men placed the caskets on the ground amid a crowd of onlookers."Despite the war that was waged against us and despite international pressure to reveal the fate of the two Israeli soldiers, no-one has known their fate until this moment."The mood in Israel has been sombre as it waited to learn the fate of Goldwasser and Regev, whose capture in a deadly cross-border raid by Hezbollah guerrillas in July 2006 triggered a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt