Lebanese Hizbollah said Thursday that remarks attributed to its leader concerning four Israelis captured by the party in October were "inaccurate," according to the Daily Star.
Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted Japanese Ambassador Naoko Amaki as saying that Hassan Nasrallah had told him and Shigeru Endo, deputy director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Middle East and African affairs division, that "the four Israelis held captive were being well-treated, as if they were members of the group itself."
In a statement, the party said Nasrallah's comment was a general one: "Whenever the group held prisoners, it treated them well until the required exchange operation was fulfilled."
The four Israelis, three soldiers and a reportedly senior Mossad agent, were seized in October and are being used a s a bargain chip to secure the release of 19 Lebanese and hundreds of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israeli jails – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
