Israel releases Hezbollah spy 01/06/2008 - 11:26:37
Israel freed a convicted Hezbollah spy today and sent him back to Lebanon, while Hezbollah turned over the remains of what it said were dead Israeli soldiers – in what could be the preliminary stage of a larger prisoner exchange between the bitter enemies.
Israeli authorities released Nasim Nisr early today after he completed a six-year sentence for espionage, driving him from a prison in central Israel to the northern Rosh Hanikra crossing.
Cameramen surrounded the white van Nisr was sitting in as a blue gate swung open to allow him through the frontier.
A Hezbollah official said the militant group handed over a brown box containing what it said were the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the month-long Lebanon war in 2006.
An Israeli security official confirmed that the remains were being transferred back to Israel.
He said Hezbollah had agreed to turn over the remains as a “gesture” and the move was not co-ordinated with Israel.
Helge Kvam, a Red Cross spokesman in Jerusalem, called Hezbollah’s move a “complete surprise”.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah predicted last month that Israel will release prisoners it is holding “very soon,” setting off speculation that a major swap was in the works.
Israel is believed to be holding seven Lebanese in its prisons, while Hezbollah has been holding two Israeli soldiers it captured in a 2006 cross-border raid that sparked that year’s month-long war.
The soldiers are believed to have been badly wounded, and Hezbollah has offered no proof that they are still alive.
Nisr, 39, was born in Lebanon to a Jewish Lebanese mother and a Shiite Muslim father.
Because of his Jewish ancestry, he later moved to Israel and became a citizen, and married twice.
He has a 10-year-old son from his first wife and two daughters, aged 10 and 7, from his current wife.
Nisr was “nervous but happy,” said his lawyer, Smadar Ben-Natan.
“I certainly hope that this heralds a prisoner swap deal in the near future,” said Mr Ben-Natan, who represents two of the Lebanese prisoners still held by Israel.
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