The four Israeli soldiers captured in October by the Lebanese fundamentalist group Hizbollah are alive and will soon be released in exchange for imprisoned Lebanese in Israel, the daily al-Mustaqbal reported Wednesday.
The newspaper, owned by Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, said three soldiers, captured during an October 7 raid on their post in the disputed Shebaa Farms area, "are in a difficult state of health because they were wounded during their capture and had to undergo several surgical operations."
Hizbollah announced on Dec 18 that they had captured a fourth Israeli, whom they said was a colonel working for his country's intelligence services. In response, Israel said the man, Alhanan Tannenbaum is a businessman.
Since capturing the four, Hizbollah has refused requests from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide any details on the status of the three soldiers.
According to al-Mustaqbal, "a German envoy who is in Beirut has reached a deal to exchange detained Israelis and Lebanese (and) that their liberation is foreseen in two steps and not simultaneously."
"It said the three soldiders will be freed in exchange for 14 of 19 Lebanese held in Israel, including Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid et Mustapha Dirani, while the officer (Tannenbaum) will be released later in exchange for the remaining five Lebanese" -- BEIRUT (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
