Flotilla 13 commandos' bodies to be swapped for prisoners
Lebanon, Military, 9/8/1997

The dismembered remains of dead Israeli marines, the most telling aspect of the disastrous commando raid last Friday, are to be swapped with Israel for Lebanese detainees incarcerated in Israel, Hizbullah's secretary general Hassan Nasrallah said on September 7.

"More than one side has contacted us regarding a swap," he said on television. "I will not at this point disclose the possible intermediaries. Naturally, a swap is in our interest because the issue of detainees in Israeli jails is of the utmost importance to us."

The gruesome trophies of the furious gun battle in the early hours of Friday between a unit of the elite Flotilla 13 marines and resistance guerrillas include half a head and several legs.

The remains were recovered by Hizbullah and Amal fighters after the battle and displayed in a news conference. Other body parts, including a jaw bone, parts of a brain and unidentifiable pieces of flesh were left on the battlefield. Over the weekend, the guerrillas discovered several other larger remains of Israelis, apparently blown apart when the explosives they were carrying were detonated by firing from the resistance. Nasrallah said Hizbullah, Amal and the army were pooling what remains they had in order to assess the number of dead Israelis in their lands.

A spokesman for Israel's Foreign Minister Aviv Shiran, expressed, "Shock at the publication of the harrowing pictures of part of the body of an Israeli soldier." He said, "it is extremely grave that the communications media in enlightened countries, which purport to operate according to professional and moral criteria, participated in publication of such horrifying pictures".

The ill-fated raid in which 12 Israeli marines were killed has prompted much soul-searching from a shell-shocked Israeli public which until recently had an unquestioning faith in the ability of its armed forces.

"We were surprised, and we paid a heavy price in dead and wounded because we did not believe the other side was capable of operating in a sophisticated manner," wrote military commentator Zeev Schiff in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.

Hizbullah's leader in the south, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, said he had won a challenge with General Amiram Levine, the Israeli army's southern commander.

Deputy head of the Shiite councel Abdel Amir Qabalan called on the army to train villagers in the use of arms.

Qabalan, who lives in Insariyeh and is thought to have been a possible target of the Israeli marines, called on the members of the South Lebanon Army to join ranks with Hizbullah.

Previous Stories:
  Seven bombs left by Israelis   (9/6/1997)
  Yesterday's events move all   (9/6/1997)
  Israeli commandos' attack on Amal base near Sidon ends in failure   (9/5/1997)

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