BEIRUT, 19 August 2003 — Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah expects negotiations soon on a prisoner swap with Israel but says the group was serious in its threat to kidnap more Israeli soldiers if talks fail.
Tension has surged between Israel and the Lebanese resistance group since Nasrallah threatened late last month to capture more Israelis unless there was a breakthrough in stalled talks.
Hezbollah seized three Israeli soldiers in a disputed border area in October 2000, months after the Jewish state ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon under pressure from the group. Weeks later, Hezbollah said it had captured reserve officer Elhanan Tenenbaum.
“Some communications began and there will be negotiations soon. We will see where they lead,” Nasrallah said in remarks published in the Al-Watan newspaper. “We are working on what can be done through the efforts of the current mediators to reach a happy end to this issue.”
Nasrallah, whose group has long campaigned for the release of about 15 Lebanese detainees in Israeli jails and has negotiated sporadically with German mediation over a possible swap, said his warnings should be taken seriously. “I gave a clear commitment, there is nothing vague about it, that means we will be compelled in fact to capture new Israeli soldiers because we have an absolute commitment to liberate our detainees,” Nasrallah said.
