ana Levi Julian
Israel released convicted Hizbullah spy Nissim Nasser on Sunday morning – and in return, received a box allegedly containing body parts of Israeli soldiers.
Hizbullah spokesman Wafik Safa made the announcement on the terrorist group's Al-Manar television network, standing next to a brown box which he said contained the remains. Nassar was shown standing next to Safa. "We today are handing over some of the remains of a number of Israeli soldiers who were killed in the July war and who the Israeli army left in Lebanon," said the Hizbullah spokesman, upon Nasser's arrival.
The Hizbullah spy was transferred by Israeli officials to representatives from the Red Cross and UNIFIL at the Rosh Hanikra crossing on the border with Lebanon earlier in the day.
The International Red Cross Association confirmed shortly after 12:00 noon that its officials had received a box containing remains of IDF soldiers who fell in battle during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The box was placed in a Red Cross vehicle for transfer to the IDF Chief Rabbinate, which will bring the remains to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for DNA testing.
Nasser, a 41-year-old Lebanese national, had completed his six-year prison term but continued to be held in administrative detention, at the Nitzan Detention Center. There has been speculation that officials were hoping to use the Lebanese convict as a bargaining chip in negotiations for the return of kidnapped IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
The Prime Minister's Office, however, has denied any connection between the timing of Nasser's release and any possible deal to return Goldwasser and Regev.
Nasser was born to a Jewish woman but later converted to Islam. He immigrated to Israel in 1991 under the Law of Return, but said he eventually decided to spy for Hizbullah because he considered himself to be a "Lebanese patriot and a Muslim." He relinquished his Israeli citizenship as part of the deal to be returned to Lebanon. .
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