IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz confirmed Tuesday that “significant” indirect contacts have been made with Hizb’Allah through German mediators over a prisoner exchange for three kidnapped Israeli soldiers, but played down reports of an imminent deal.
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh dismissed weekend reports of an imminent prisoner swap with Hizb’Allah as disinformation on Sunday, quashing rumors of an election eve surprise.
Tensions increased over recent days in the disputed Har Dov region along the Israeli-Lebanese border, after Hizb’Allah forces set up a roadblock just outside the divided border village of Ghajar.
Three Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed and five wounded overnight in an Israeli air raid on a Syrian radar station near the Beirut-Damascus highway in eastern Lebanon.
Israel has sent a stern warning to Lebanon and Syria, after Hizbollah guerillas fired rockets at an Israeli patrol on the northern border Friday, killing an Israeli soldier.
Britain designated 21 groups as “terrorist” this week under a new anti-terrorism law designed to halt funding and support for militant groups based in the United Kingdom.
Hizb’Allah claimed on Monday to have captured a high ranking Israeli officer. ISRAEL RADIO reported later in the day that an Israeli citizen named Hanan Sheinbaum has indeed been kidnapped by the Lebanese terrorists. A Hizb’Allah representative interviewed by a foreign TV station said that the kidnapped Israeli is a Mossad agent.