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Israel releases Hezbollah 'spy'

Jun 01 2008

Israel releases Hezbollah 'spy'

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Arab World

By Agencies

Nisr had been held in an Israeli jail for having ties to Shia Lebanese group Hezbollah

Israel has released a Lebanese-born man who had served a six-year jail term on charges of spying for Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia organisation.

Nassim Nissir met his family in the border town of Naqoura on Sunday, shortly after Israeli police transferred him to officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Speaking alongside Nissir in Naqoura, a Hezbollah official announced that the group had released what they say are the remains of Israeli soldiers, killed in the 2006 war in Lebanon, to the ICRC.

An Israeli official said later that "a coffin apparently containing body parts of soldiers killed during the Second Lebanon War has been transferred by Hezbollah to the IDF [Israeli army] as a gesture for the ongoing negotiations on a prisoner exchange."

"The coffin will be examined and the body parts will be examined to determine whether they indeed belong to Israeli soldiers," the official said.

Lebanese army forces deployed in Naqoura around the time of Nissir's transfer into Lebanon, while Hezbollah members blocked the entrance to the town.

The human remains handed over by Hezbollah to Israel are not those of two soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a 2006 cross-border raid, Amin said.

The raid sparked a fierce retaliation by the Israeli army against Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon in a 34-day war.

Exchange deal

Nissir was arrested in 2002 and was subsequently sentenced to six years in prison for collaborating with Hezbollah.

Nissir crossed into Lebanon after serving a six-year term [EPA]

He has an Israeli Jewish mother and a Lebanese Muslim father and held Israeli citizenship at the time of his arrest.

He first joined his mother's family in Israel in 1982, during an Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Nissir's brother Mohammed said Nassim told him in a phone call a month ago that "his jailers had placed him in solitary confinement in a bid to persuade him to abandon his plans to return to Lebanon with his two daughters, who are Israeli citizens".

Observers are mixed over whether Nissir's release can be seen as raising hopes for a broader prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli army radio reported on Monday that Israel was prepared to free five Lebanese prisoners and return the bodies of 10 Hezbollah fighters in exchange for the two Israeli soldiers.