Hezbollah confirmed it had agreed to a prisoner swap with Israel.
“I officially announce that we accept this deal,” Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militia, said Wednesday in a Beirut speech. “I think the matter will be completed in one or two weeks.”
On Sunday, Israel’s Cabinet approved the German-mediated deal under which it will recover two soldiers held by Hezbollah since July 2006 and release five jailed Lebanese terrorists.
As part of the deal, Hezbollah is to hand over a report on its efforts, and failure, to locate Ron Arad, an Israeli airman missing since he bailed out over Lebanon in 1986.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah had a “firm conclusion” about Arad’s fate but did not elaborate. Ha’aretz reported this week that the Lebanese militia believed Arad should be declared dead.
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