Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert received on Saturday a report from the Lebanese militia Hezbollah on a missing Israeli soldier that could clear the way for a prisoner swap between the sides that fought a war only two years ago, his office said.
Olmert will bring the report for review in his Cabinet tomorrow, spokesman Mark Regev said.
Hezbollah said in the report that it did not know what happened to Ron Arad, the Israeli airman who has been missing since he was captured alive when his fighter jet went down over Lebanon in 1986, Israeli officials said on condition of anonymity.
In the document, Hezbollah said it believed that Arad is dead, the officials said.
In the Israel-Hezbollah deal, Israel will hand over Samir Kantar, a Lebanese man serving multiple life terms for a 1979 attack in Israel’s north. Israel is also expected to release four Hezbollah prisoners and dozens of fighters’ bodies.
In return, Israel is to receive two soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a 2006 cross-border raid that set off a fierce 34-day war. Olmert has said that he believes the soldiers are dead.
Israeli military officials have said the exchange is likely to take place this coming week, pending approval by Olmert’s Cabinet.
A UN-appointed German official mediated the agreement, which Israel originally approved on June 29. Israeli negotiator Ofer Dekel recently traveled to Europe to pick up the document on Arad.
In exchange for the report, Israel is to provide information on four Iranian diplomats who disappeared in Lebanon in 1982. Iran claims they were kidnapped by Lebanese militiamen allied with Israel, who delivered them to Israeli troops. Israel has long denied holding them, and Samir Geagea, former head of the disbanded Lebanese Forces, has said militiamen killed them.
Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, taking over large areas as part of a military sweep to expel Palestinian guerrillas.
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