Israel Returns Hezbollah Spy

Prisoner swap may be under way with Lebanon
By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 1, 2008 3:27 PM CDT
Israel Returns Hezbollah Spy
Nasim Nisr flashes V sign upon his arrival to a ceremony held by Hezbollah, in the south Lebanon coastal town of Naqoura on Sunday, June 1, 2008.    (Associated Press)

Israel returned a Hezbollah spy to Lebanon today and may have started a prisoner exchange, BBC reports. Hezbollah quickly handed over the bodies of Israeli troops killed in 2006, but officials on both sides deny a swap is under way. Secret talks clearly are, perhaps aided by German mediators; a larger prisoner swap may include the two Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the 2006 war.

The spy, Nissim Nasser, returned home to a Hezbollah party and patriotic tunes blaring over loudspeakers. Born in Lebanon to a Shia Muslim father and Jewish mother, Nasser moved to the Tel Aviv area after Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982. He was convicted of spying in 2002 and served a 6-year sentence. (More Hezbollah stories.)

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