BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said on Tuesday that a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah was a "huge failure" for the Jewish state and a victory for the Shiite militant group.
"The release of the prisoners thanks to the German mediator... is a huge failure for the policies of Israel," a statement from Siniora's office said.
"The success of Hezbollah in the negotiations led by a third party is a national success for the party and for the struggle of the Lebanese because it secured national goals which Israel always refused to respect."
The Israeli government on Sunday approved a deal to hand over to Hezbollah five Lebanese militants in return for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the summer 2006 war in Lebanon.
An undetermined number of Palestinians held in Israel prisons will also be released as part of the deal mediated by Germany.
Among the Lebanese to make a triumphant homecoming is Samir Kantar, the longest-serving Arab prisoner in Israeli jails who had been convicted in 1980 to 542 years in jail for the murder of an Israeli civilian and his four-year-old daughter, as well as an Israeli policeman.
A Lebanese official said Israel will also return to Hezbollah the bodies of eight of its militants as well as the remains of other Lebanese.
Israeli officials have said the swap could go ahead in two weeks if Hezbollah provides a report on the fate of Israeli airman Ron Arad who went missing after flying a mission over south Lebanon in 1986.
The Israeli Haaretz daily said Hezbollah has already told Israel through UN negotiator Gerhard Konrad that Arad is dead but Israel wants the Shiite group to explain how it reached that conclusion and why it could not locate Arad's remains.
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