By NNN-KUNA,
Beirut : Commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major-General Claudio Graziano has said that the release of Lebanese prisoners from Israeli jails will reinforce peace in the region.
He was speaking at the UNIFIL celebrations on the occasion of Global Peace Day and the 60th UN Day in the coastal city of Al-Naqura in southern Lebanon Thursday.
New developments on the prisoners issues were immediately reported to human rights organisations like the International Red Cross Society (IRCS) and the Lebanese authority, stated Graziano, adding that UNIFIL would back up all efforts to promote peace in the region.
Samr Al-Qadi, of the IRCS, told Al-Manar TV, a Hezbollah-affiliated media, that the Red Cross would facilitate the transportation of Lebanese prisoners which would be conducted Sunday. Samir Al-Qantar, a Lebanese captured by Israel in 1979, will be among the released.
Secret negotiations to exchange Lebanese and Israeli prisoners were mediated by the UN. The negotiations were for the release of two Israeli soldiers in exchange for Lebanese and other Arab prisoners in Israel.
The largest prisoner exchange operation occurred on Jan 19, 2004 when Israel released a total of 528 Lebanese and Arab national prisoners while Hezbollah handed in the remains of three Israeli soldiers killed in an operation on Shebaa Farms and released a top ranked Israeli colonel.