The leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has said that “serious negotiations” are under way over the fate of the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah in July. During an interview, he said that a negotiator appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has been meeting both Hezbollah and Israeli officials. Without going into details, Nasrallah confirmed that both sides had “reached a stage of exchanging ideas, proposals or conditions”. He continued, “they are serious negotiations. It’s better to keep it away from the media [but] this issue is on track and we are moving ahead.”

On July 12th, the two Israeli soldiers were captured, and eight others were killed, after they crossed the border into Lebanon and attempted to raid Hezbollah fighters. In the past, Nasrallah has exchanged Israeli prisoners for Arab prisoners. However, this time Israel refused the exchange and invaded Lebanon, using the kidnapping as justification to carry out a pre-planned military operation. During the 34 days that followed, over 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, were killed by the huge Israeli offensive.

Armed and ready, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah has reinforced its rockets (numbering around 33,000) in the case that they need to defend their country again. He warned that disarming Hezbollah, the main military power in Lebanon, would destabilize the nation, transforming it into another Iraq or Afghanistan. Nasrallah’s interview aired just hours after Israeli warplanes staged their largest mock raid over Beirut since the ceasefire on August 14th. “The resistance in Lebanon is strong, cohesive, able and ready and they will not be able to undermine it no matter what the challenges are,” Nasrallah said.

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