Hezbollah prisoner swap goes ahead

Military jets carrying prisoners to be swapped in a long-awaited deal between arch enemies Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah touched down before dawn today under tight security at a military airport in Cologne.

In the German-brokered deal, Israel is freeing 436 prisoners in return for kidnapped businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers as part of a rare agreement between combatants who have fought in Lebanon and along the border with Israel for almost 20 years.

Most of the prisoners Israel is to release are Palestinians who will be set free in Gaza and the West Bank.

But some three dozen prisoners from other countries will be exchanged at the German airport before noon (11am Irish time).

The jets with the prisoners landed just after 7am (6am Irish time) at Cologne’s Wahn Airport, which is surrounded by trees and grassy hillocks that mostly obscure its small terminal building and runways. Military police ringed the area and kept journalists and cameras away.

A German government spokesman refused comment, but Israeli security sources confirmed the planes were carrying the prisoners for exchange.

An Israeli Air Force plane carrying medical personnel and rabbis arrived in Germany at Wahn airport yesterday.

Most prominent among the non-Palestinians are guerrilla leaders Mustafa Dirani, captured in 1994, and Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid, seized in 1989. Israeli officials have said Dirani at one point held missing Israel airman Ron Arad, who was captured after his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986.

The Arab prisoners were to remain aboard their plane until the forensic experts verified the identities of the three Israeli soldiers – Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan, and Omar Souad.

The three were captured in October 2000 when Hezbollah fighters blew up their vehicle as they patrolled Israel’s border with Lebanon to the north.

The soldiers’ bodies were to be flown back to Israel for a memorial service, with Tannenbaum also expected to fly there after his release.

Hezbollah said it planned a welcoming ceremony for its returning prisoners in Beirut.

Among the prisoners Israel was expected to release was a German sentenced to 10 years after being convicted of being a member of Hezbollah.

Stephen Smyrek, 32, was arrested in November 1997 after arriving in Israel from Amsterdam. The indictment against him said he had been to Lebanon to train in use of weapons and explosives.

The court acquitted him of charges he was planning a suicide bombing at an Israeli shopping mall.

Some Israeli critics said Israel was paying too high a price and expressed concern that the arrangement could encourage more kidnappings. Palestinians have expressed disappointment that more senior figures were not let go.

Just after the exchange in Germany, Israel will release 400 Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and hand over the bodies of 59 Lebanese militants at the border with Lebanon, security officials said.

If the exchange goes successfully, the sides are to launch a second stage of negotiations. Israel is supposed to receive within three months concrete information about the fate of Arad.