Israel, Hezbollah complete prisoner swap

Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have completed an emotional prisoner swap that is the culmination of a bloody, month-long war and nearly two years of negotiations, with two Israeli soldiers returned in spartan black coffins and a Lebanese prisoner reviled by Israelis sent home to a hero's welcome. The exchange occurred at the Lebanese-Israeli border crossing, with Hezbollah first delivering the remains of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regevfrom in a truck to Red Cross officials, who then transferred them to the Israeli army. The unloading of the two coffins was the final confirmation of earlier warnings from Israeli intelligence and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that both soldiers were dead. Hezbollah had provided no proof of their fate, beyond their initial claim to have kidnapped live soldiers. The swap, brokered by a UN-appointed German mediator, was the eighth between Israel and Hezbollah since 1991. In Lebanon, the arrival of five prisoners, including the notorious Samir Kuntar, along with the first of nearly 200 bodies of dead Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas, was cause for jubilation. Kuntar and the others were brought across the border by the Red Cross, and Hezbollah officials and well-wishers provided them with a red-carpet welcome. They were dressed in military uniforms and flown by helicopter to Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport to be welcomed by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also made a rare public appearance to greet the five prisoners. Kuntar was released with great reluctance by Israel, where he was serving multiple life sentences for the murder of Danny Haran, his four-year-old daughter Einat and two policemen in 1979. For years, he had been held as Israel's last best bargaining chip for information on missing aviator Ron Arad, who went down in southern Lebanon in 1986. But after the delivery of a comprehensive report on Arad's probable death, Israeli officials confirmed Kuntar would be released, according to Hezbollah's demands. Kuntar, who was just 16 when he joined the commando unit that traveled via boat to northern Israel from southern Lebanon, has always denied killing the little girl. His brazen mission has captured hearts and minds among Palestinians and Lebanese, many of whom consider him a national hero. Among the first of the 199 Lebanese and Palestinians bodies also transferred to Hezbollah was that of Dalal Mughrabi, the Lebanese-born Palestinian refugee who gained icon status with her role in a 1978 bus hijacking that killed 36 Israelis.