Hezbollah says releases Israeli soldiers' remains

By Ezzat Baltaji

NAQOURA, Lebanon (Reuters) - Hezbollah said on Sunday it had released the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in a 2006 war with Israel, which handed over a Lebanese man who had completed a jail term on charges of spying for the group.

The exchange increased speculation of progress in indirect talks between Israel and Hezbollah, a powerful Shi'ite Islamist group, over a broader prisoner swap. Lebanese political sources said last Monday that the talks had made major progress.

Nissim Nisr, released after a six-year jail term, was greeted by Hezbollah officials in the southern village of Naqoura, where the group unexpectedly announced the release of the soldiers' remains.

"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," Hezbollah security official Wafik Safa said upon Nisr's arrival.

A box was placed in a vehicle belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for delivery to Israel.

An Israeli military spokesman said the remains would be inspected by security forces and undergo forensic examination.

A panel had been appointed "that will be responsible for directly contacting the bereaved families whose soldiers' body parts are suspected to be among the remains transferred", the spokesman said.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a January 19 speech his group had the heads, hands and legs of soldiers left on the battlefields of the 34-day 2006 war.

The conflict was touched off by the group's capture of two soldiers during a raid into Israel. Hezbollah said it had captured the soldiers to negotiate the release of prisoners in Israel, including the long-held Samir Qantar.

"We are looking forward in the near future, the very near future, to the return of our prisoners ... at the forefront of them, the hero Samir Qantar," Hezbollah official Sheikh Nabil Qawouk said at a rally to mark Nisr's release.

"POSITIVE DYNAMIC"

Nasrallah last week reiterated his vow that all Lebanese prisoners, including Qantar, would be released soon.

Nisr, who had been held at Nitzan Prison in central Israel, arrived in Lebanon in an ICRC vehicle. Well-wishers threw rice and flowers at him as he entered his home village of Bazouriyeh.

"God willing, very soon, we will witness the return of the Lebanese prisoners," Nisr, wearing a Hezbollah scarf, said.

A Lebanese political source said Sunday's exchange "could not be separated" from negotiations to secure the broader prisoner swap, which would include the soldiers captured in a raid into Israel.