| Mohamad Shmaysani | |
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Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah refused but take part in person with hundreds of thousands of people who gathered at the Raya playground in Beirut’s southern suburb to mark the release of Samir Kintar, Maher Kourani, Khodor Zaidan, Mohammed Srour and Hussein Suleiman, who were released Wednesday in the framework of Operation Al-Redwan.
His eminence reminded in his brief visit that the era of defeats has gone forever and time now is for victories. Sayyed Nasrallah then left the scene to prepare to deliver his speech through a giant screen.
Political, diplomatic and religious figures attended the ceremony as Lebanese and Hezbollah flags were flying sending cool breezes amidst a very hot weather. Fireworks lighted the sky of Beirut’s southern suburb; the region that was devastated during the 2006 Israeli aggression against Lebanon.
Kintar and his brothers took the stand after they smashed out of an imaginary jail amid loud shouts and claps by the crowd.
Kintar said: “I thank God who gave me strength and hope in this time of weakness, to face my jailer. I thank God who brought this brave resistance to this country. I thank God that we have reached this time; the era of victories. We will not return to the times of defeat. This is thanks to God in the first place, the martyrs who fell as they were defending this country and you, the community of the resistance the community of the sincere promise who endured everything, sacrificed everything and never compromised on your freedom. Allow me to remember Sayyed Abbas Moussawi who asked us to preserve our resistance. I tell him, look Sayyed Abbas, we have preserved the resistance that has become a unique force. I also recall Sheikh Ragheb Harb and I tell him that arms have become a culture that will accomplish victory. I salute the legendary resistance commander martyr Imad Moghniyeh. Today I came back from Palestine, my precious country only to return to it with my brothers in the resistance. My message is one that calls for unity to achieve victory. And allow me to salute (former) president of the Lebanese Republic his Excellency General Emile Lahoud.”
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Another Sincere Promise…Our Heroes Have Returned
By Mohamad Shmaysani
At 17:25 local time Wednesday, Lebanon finally embraced the five released detainees after Hezbollah succeeded to exchange them and the remains of some 200 martyrs with two dead Israeli soldiers in the framework of Operation Al-Redwan, a UN brokered swap deal between Hezbollah and Israel.
The operation is the last of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s true pledges.
An ICRC minibus transported Samir Kintar, Maher Kourani, Khodor Zaidan, Mohammed Srour and Hussein Suleiman from occupied territories to Naqura south of Lebanon. As previously announced by Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa, upon the arrival of the five heroes, the remains of more Israeli soldiers killed in the 2006 Israeli aggression against Lebanon were handed over to the ICRC. The heroes put on their military uniforms before being received by thousands of people whether in south Lebanon, the airport or Dahye.
Sayyed Ibrahm Amine el-Sayyed, the head of Hezbollah’s Political Council and Hezbollah’s official in south Lebanon received the five heroes. “You have returned as heroes and free men. From here they entered Palestine, only the trees and the land saw them. And from here they returned to the country of resistance, Jihad, martyrdom, victory and honor,” his eminence said.
At 19:30 local time, Kintar, Kourani, Zaidan, Srour and Suleiman boarded the presidential helicopter that transported them to Beirut’s international airport, where President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Fouad Saniora as well as MP Saad Hariri, MP Michel Aoun and many other political and religious figures and family members were set to receive the heroes. The scene at the airport illustrated a new phase Lebanon has entered since the formation of the national unity government as politicians put aside their differences to mark Lebanon’s new victory.
Four helicopters landed at the airport at 20:00. President Michel Suleiman welcomed the heroes and delivered a speech praising Al-Redwan Operation. “Your return brightens the resistance of Lebanon and the Lebanese and underlines your country’s adherence to its citizens and its readiness to sacrifice for its rights. Liberation will remain incomplete as long as Israel occupies our land with mines and cluster bombs. I remind you that Lebanon has the right to regain its occupied territories with every available and legitimate means as stipulated in international laws. This right, we will not give up,” President Suleiman stressed.
The five heroes then entered to a special hall to rejoice with their families. The reunion was very sentimental especially between Kintar and his mother and brother who was a baby when Samir was jailed in Israel.
In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the Raya playground in Dahye to mark the day of victory and salute the orchestrator of the Al-Redwan Operation Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, who will deliver a speech to hail the success of the operation (named after martyr Imad Moghniyeh or Hajj Redwan) in closing the prisoners file with the Zionist entity.
At an earlier stage, Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa unveiled the fate of the two Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev and handed the ICRC their bodies in two coffins.
Israel had positively identified the bodies of the dead soldiers, public radio said.
According to unconfirmed reports, they will visit the grave of martyr Redwan upon their arrival to the southern suburb.
Celebratory banners and flags were flying along the main coastal highway from the border with occupied Palestine in Naqura to Lebanon's southern port city of Sidon and the cabinet has declared Wednesday a national holiday.
Hezbollah had earlier received the bodies of twelve martyrs including 8 Islamic Resistance martyrs who fell during confrontations with Israeli occupation soldiers in Lebanon in 2006. The other four bodies are for martyr Dalal Moghrabi and three of her comrades who carried out a heroic operation in the late 70's inside occupied territories.
Draped in Lebanese and Palestinian flags, the caskets of the martyrs were given a red carpet welcome. Lebanese, Palestinian and Hezbollah flag holders and the families of the martyrs as well as Hezbollah officials and representatives of other parties welcomed the martyrs as an Islamic Resistance unit gave a military salute to their brothers in citizenship, religion and arms.
The UN-brokered swap, which was given final approval by the Israeli cabinet on Tuesday, is the eighth between Israel and Hezbollah since 1991.
Lebanon Triumph, Israel Black Day
NAQURA, Lebanon - The Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah on Wednesday, July 16, swapped the bodies of two Israeli soldiers with 5 Lebanese prisoners and the remains of hundreds of fighters, in a landmark deal greeted with triumph in Lebanon but anguish in Israel.
"Today we hand over Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev," Hizbullah official Wafiq Safa said at the Naqura border crossing between Lebanon and Israel as men placed two black coffins of the Israeli soldiers on the ground amid a crowd of onlookers, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).
"Despite the war that was waged against us and despite international pressure to reveal the fate of the two Israeli soldiers, no-one has known their fate until this moment."
Hizbullah handed on Wednesday morning the bodies of the two soldiers, seized in a cross-border raid into Israel in July 2006, to the International Committee Red Cross under the UN-mediated swap.
In return, Israel turned the bodies of 12 fighters, including the body of Dalal al-Maghrebi, a female fighter with the Palestinian Fatah movement.
Israel is also to transfer to Lebanon the remains of 199 Palestinian and Arab fighters exhumed over the past week.
After few hours, in the last phase of the swap, Israel handed the five Lebanese prisoners, who were the last reaming Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.
The prisoners included Samir Kuntar, 45, the longest held Lebanese prisoner in Israel, who has been in jail since 1979 serving multiple life terms for his part in a deadly attack on an Israeli town.
Negotiations between Israel and Hizbullah to conclude the deal have been handled by a UN-appointed German mediator.
The deal also includes handing Israel information on missing airman Ron Arad, whose plane crashed in Lebanon in 1986.
The UN-brokered swap is the eighth between Israel and Hizbullah since 1991.
The largest prisoner swap between the two sides took place in January 2004 when Israel released 400 Palestinians and 31 others, including 23 Lebanese, in exchange for an Israeli reservist and the remains of three Israeli soldiers.
Tears of Joy, Pain
In Lebanon, a mood of celebration welcomed the prisoners and the fighters' bodies.
"Lebanon is shedding tears of joy," said one banner at the border, where crowds of people waited to welcome home loved ones or receive their remains.
"Israel is shedding tears of pain."
Lebanon has declared a national holiday to mark the swap, after which Israel will hold no more Hizbullah fighters.
Yellow Hizbullah flags lined the streets in towns and villages across south Lebanon as well as along the coastal highway from the city of Naqura to Beirut, the capital.
A hero's welcome was prepared at the border for the five prisoners, especially Kuntar who spent two thirds of his life as a prisoner in Israel.
Red carpet ceremonies were also prepared in Naqura, where patriotic songs and excerpts of speeches by Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah bellowed from loudspeakers.
The leader of Lebanon's mainly Maronite Christian Free Patriotic Movement and former army commander-in-chief, Michel Aoun, said the swap proved Israel had been defeated in the 2006 war.
"I believe today is the crowning glory of the war," he said.
On the other side, the mood in Israel has been somber.
Israelis lamented the deal as the latest defeat by the hands of the Lebanese resistance.
"This is the day in which the Lebanon war is ending," said Ehud Ya'ari, Arab affairs analyst for Israel's Channel Two television, referring to Israel's 34-day offensive in Lebanon after the two soldiers were seized in July 2006.
The agreement has caused controversy in Israel, with some ministers opposed to the possibility of exchanging live prisoners for dead bodies.
Others said the exchange raises the question whether the war in Lebanon -- which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese including a large number of women and children and 160 Israelis, mostly troops -- could still be justified.
"This is a black day in Israel's history," Tzahi Hanegbi, head of the Israeli parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, told the Israeli radio.
Hanegbi said the swap had undermined the rationale for launching the war after the two soldiers were seized on July 12, 2006.
"In the end we gave what we could have given on the morning of July 13.
"Ultimately we are surrendering."
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