Source close to Hezbollah says 7 fighters in Israeli hands
A source close to Hezbollah said Monday that Israel's army detained seven fighters from the Lebanese group during more than a year of hostilities between the two sides before a November ceasefire.
"Seven fighters from Hezbollah were taken prisoner" by Israel before the November 27 truce went into effect, the source said, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive.
Four other people were apprehended by the Israeli military on Sunday in south Lebanon border villages, the source added, without identifying them as fighters.
Under the ceasefire deal, the Lebanese military was to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that ended on Sunday.
Hundreds of people have been trying since then to return home even though the Israeli army, which in September began ground operations in Lebanon, has not fully withdrawn.
The White House said Sunday that the deal had been extended until February 18, and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon would respect the extension.
The accord also requires the Iran-backed Hezbollah to pull back its forces north of the Litani River -- about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border -- and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Mikati said that following "the Lebanese government's request, the United States will begin negotiations to return Lebanese prisoners in Israeli prisons whom Israel arrested after October 7," referring to the date in 2023 when the Gaza war erupted.
The following day, Hezbollah initiated low-intensity cross-border attacks on Israel which, after almost a year of hostilities, deteriorated into all-out war in September 2024.
On October 15, the Israeli military said troops in south Lebanon had captured three Hezbollah fighters, days after announcing another fighter was taken from an underground tunnel shaft.
A week later, a Hezbollah spokesman acknowledged some of the group's fighters had been captured, without providing numbers.
27 January 2025, 17:41
01
Nawaf Salam should resign as no more Vichy government needed. Sovereign MPs should elect Ashraf Rifi, best to implement UN1701. Salam should be appointed to higher court to bring justice to Port victims as well as M14 victims from Hariri to Tueni, Shateh, Jemayel, Slim, and dozens others. Not to forget to bring to justice all corrupt political mafia, those operating illegal crossings, and those involved in money laundering and Captagon trade. Also Salam should insure all Lebanese who committed crimes and massacres in Syria are handed over. Finally, all Lebanese victims with dual citizenships of the criminal Hizbollah militia should sue Iran in a class action lawsuit to be compensated by the $100 bullion frozen funds as other victims.
