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Detainees and Jewish remains
Israel will release five Lebanese detainees held in the past months after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it verified the men were not affiliated with any armed organizations, tying the move to contacts and talks with Lebanon over recovering the remains of members of the Jewish community who disappeared and were killed in the country during the mid-1980s.
“Israel will release five Lebanese citizens detained in southern Lebanon”
Reuters said Israel will release five Lebanese citizens detained in southern Lebanon after finding they had no links to militant groups, and Netanyahu’s office said the decision came amid negotiations to recover the remains of Jewish community leaders kidnapped and killed there in the mid-1980s.
In Beirut, Reuters reported that one of the five, Malek Kamal Ghazi, was already released and handed over to Lebanese authorities by the International Committee of the Red Cross via the Nacora crossing, and Reuters also reported that the sources denied reports that Ghazi was a Hezbollah member.
Reuters further reported that Israel still holds 35 Lebanese, including 20 civilians, while the release step is linked to a U.S.-mediated framework agreement signed in June that includes pledges to work towards the release of detainees and the search for and return of remains.
Competing counts and claims
Al-Jazirah Net reported that a Lebanese security source and another from the Prisoners Follow-up Committee told Reuters that one of the five detainees, Malik Kamal Ghazi, was already released and handed over to Lebanese authorities by the International Committee of the Red Cross via the Nacora crossing.
Reuters said the sources denied reports that Ghazi was a Hezbollah member and said the four others due to be released were also civilians, while Reuters reported that Israel still holds 35 Lebanese, including 20 civilians.
Al-Manar TV Lebanon said Israeli occupation soldiers released a Lebanese man detained this afternoon and said the enemy will release four more prisoners later today: two Lebanese and two Syrians.
Anadolu Ajansı reported that Netanyahu’s office decided to release five detainees arrested by the army in southern Lebanon, while Beirut said it had only received one through the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Anadolu quoted a senior Lebanese military source saying Beirut had received from Israel only one prisoner via the Red Cross.
What comes next
Reuters reported that Israel and Lebanon signed a U.S.-mediated framework agreement in June that included pledges to work towards the release of detainees and the search for and return of remains, and that the agreement also envisages an eventual Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon as the Lebanese army takes control and disarms Iran-backed Hezbollah, terms the group has rejected.
“the agreement also envisages an eventual Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon”
Al-Jazirah Net said Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported in August that talks were underway on the possibility of releasing civilian Lebanese detainees in exchange for facilitating the transfer of remains of members of the Jewish community buried in cemeteries inside Lebanon, with Israel focused particularly on remains located in Jewish cemeteries in Beirut and Sidon.
Anadolu Ajansı reported that the Amal Movement parliamentary bloc affiliated with Hezbollah renewed its rejection of the framework agreement, describing it as a "cover" for continued Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese government said negotiations with the Israeli side are the only way to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty over its territory.
Reuters also reported that the prisoner handover coincided with continuing Israeli incursions and arrests in southern Lebanon, as an Israeli force abducted three Lebanese from the town of Hulta in the Hasbaya district on Thursday morning, according to the mukhtar and a local Anadolu source.