Lebanon's Hizbollah movement has refused to exchange information on three Israeli soldiers it has been holding for the bodies of fighters killed during the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, a press report said Monday.
The daily al-Mustaqbal, owned by Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, quoted a Hizbollah source as saying the fundamentalist Shiite group had rejected the Israeli proposal.
Hizbollah would only supply news of the condition of the soldiers captured on October 7 in the disputed Shebaa Farms area against the release of detainees from Israeli jails, it said.
Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday that German mediation over an exchange of prisoners covers all Arab detainees in Israel, not just Lebanese prisoners.
Hizbollah, which spearheaded the struggle against the 22-year Israeli occupation that ended in May, has refused to give any information on the three soldiers despite pressure from the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross.
According to an earlier report in al-Mustaqbal, the men are alive but were wounded during their capture and required surgery.
Hizbollah also claims to be holding an agent of the Israeli secret service, Mossad, who is described by Israel as a 54-year-old businessman -- BEIRUT (AFP)
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