Israel handed back to Lebanon on Friday the corpses of three Hezbollah guerrillas killed on Monday -- an unusually quick return intended to restore calm. But Hezbollah's leader told thousands of supporters that the group would still try to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
"It is our natural right to capture Israel soldiers," Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told a rally in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut. "Indeed, it is our duty to do that."
Hezbollah's show of force -- attacks on the Lebanese-Israeli border and Friday's mass rally -- aimed to affirm the group's significance as a main player in Lebanese politics and as a key to stability with Israel.
PHOTO: EPA
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora had demanded on Wednesday that Israel return the three bodies, saying it was necessary to restore calm after the heaviest clashes in years on Monday.
Israel handed the bodies to the International Red Cross, whose vehicles carried them through the Naqoura crossing on the Lebanese-Israeli border on Friday.
Israel has previously kept the bodies of Hezbollah fighters for long periods, eventually returning them in negotiated swaps for the remains of Israeli soldiers or prisoners.
Its quick delivery this time indicates a desire to defuse tension on the border and to deny Hezbollah a pretext to launch further attacks.
Further, Israel knows that an escalation in border fighting would turn Lebanon's attention away from the country's main preoccupation -- the UN investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri and relations with Syria.
Sheik Nasrallah was on hand to welcome the guerrillas' coffins when they arrived in Lebanese ambulances at a complex south of Beirut.
Families of the guerrillas were among several hundred mourners. Some threw flower petals at the caskets, which were wrapped in Hezbollah's yellow flag.
"We are used to martyrdom. I have five more [sons] and I am ready to offer them," said Ibrahim Mousawi, the father of slain guerrilla Mohammed Mousawi, in an interview with Hezbollah's al-Manar television.
Not a crime
In his speech, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah said he did not consider the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers to be a crime, and Hezbollah's recent attacks had sent a message that the group is still ready to defend Lebanon.
"We are not weak and we will not be weakened ... we are not afraid and we will not be frightened," he said in a speech that was interrupted several times by roars of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."
After his speech, Hezbollah pall bearers carried the three coffins to a podium where Nasrallah, a medium-ranking cleric, prayed for their souls.
The UN Security Council has accused Hezbollah of starting Monday's fighting. Hezbollah denies this, but it is thought the group may have been trying both to capture Israeli soldiers for a future exchange of prisoners and to take the pressure off Syria stemming from the UN investigation into Hariri's assassination.
In the fighting, Hezbollah guerrillas fired rockets at Israeli military posts, and Israel retaliated with airstrikes and an artillery bombardment.
Eleven Israeli soldiers were wounded, and four guerrillas were killed. The fourth guerrilla was carried back into Lebanon by his comrades and buried on Tuesday.
Fighting briefly resumed on Wednesday when an Israeli civilian in a hang glider drifted across the border and landed inside Lebanon. Israeli troops shot at Hezbollah guerrillas to prevent them from capturing the civilian as he ran back to Israel.
Also on Wednesday, Israeli planes dropped thousands of anti-Hezbollah leaflets over Beirut and other Lebanese regions.
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