Israel oks Hezbollah prisoner swap

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has won his cabinet's approval for a prisoner swap with Lebanon's resistance movement of Hezbollah.

A majority of ministers convened at the weekly cabinet meeting approved a swap under which Israel would free five jailed Lebanese and repatriate the remains of around 10 slain infiltrators, Reuters reported, citing Israeli political source.

The movement captured the two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, in July 2006. Olmert ruled out any negotiations to release the Israeli reservists and ordered a devastating war on Lebanon to free them.

The 33-day war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese including a large number of women and children and 160 Israelis; mostly troops. The invasion failed to achieve its goals, and is considered as a heavy defeat for the regime.

"This is a matter of the highest moral order," Olmert said in a broadcast statement before the debate. He said he had, "vacillated deeply" over the deal after hearing arguments Israel should return only bodies to Hezbollah if its troops were dead.

A German mediator has been conducting the negotiations.

In Beirut, a Lebanese political source said the deal could take place" within a few days."

Samir Kantar freed

Zionist regime conceded to free a prominent member of Lebanese resistance in exchange for the bodies of two of its soldiers killed by Hezbollah members.

The German-mediated deal closed a chapter from the regime's defeated war against the Lebanese Hezbollah two years ago.

The regime conceded to release Samir Kantar as well as a number of Palestinian and Lebanese people captivated by the regime so far in exchange for the return of the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.