FM greets release of Lebanese captives

Tehran, July 17, IRNA - Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Thursday welcomed the release of a number of Lebanese captives from Israeli prisons.

He said the pleasant event is part of the achievements of the
Hezbollah resistance movement and the Lebanese nation.

"We congratulate this great victory to all the people, particularly
the world freedom-seekers," Mottaki added.

He urged the Zionist regime to abandon obstinacy and make efforts to
release all the Palestinian prisoners and the Iranian diplomats
abducted in Lebanon.

Five Lebanese prisoners held by Israel were exchanged for bodies of
two captured Israeli soldiers at the Israeli-Lebanese border on
Wednesday.

Among those freed in a prisoner swap greeted with triumph in Lebanon
was Samir Kantar, who was sentenced to five life terms for a 1979
triple murder.

The four freed Hezbollah fighters were captured in the July-August
2006 war which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in
Israel. They and Kantar were the last remaining Lebanese prisoners in
Israeli jails.

The five prisoners were released in exchange for the bodies of two
Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose capture in a
deadly cross-border raid in July 2006 triggered a devastating 33-day
war in Lebanon.

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