Lebanon receives first detainee of five to be freed by Israel

Lebanon said it received a man on Thursday, freed as Israel announced it would release five people seized from the country's south, where it has fought several wars against Hezbollah in recent years.

The announcement came after Lebanon said its army received a man returned by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the first since Beirut called in August talks for the release of an initial group seized since the start of the 2024 war.

A source in the ICRC told The New Arab: "A humanitarian operation is currently underway, and to ensure the safety of everyone involved, we will not issue any further statements until after the operation is over".

"It was decided to release five Lebanese civilians who were arrested in areas under (Israeli army) control in southern Lebanon," the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

"After their interrogation was completed, it became clear that they are civilians who are not members of any terrorist organisation, have not engaged in terrorism, and there is no reason to continue holding them in Israel."

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) said the man, identified as Malik Ghazi, was currently undergoing medical examinations, noting he was not registered on the Lebanese Association of Prisoners' list of missing persons.

A source in the association confirmed to The New Arab that they were not aware he had been captured.

"We usually inform residents about the capture or disappearance of a person and follow up on the matter and document it, but this did not happen with Ghazi. We learned today of the kidnapping of three people from the town of Helta in the south by Israel, and we are trying to find out the fate of these people," the source explained. 

A source in the Lebanese Army told The New Arab that more prisoners are set to be handed over in the coming hours, but no specific times or dates were given.

Lebanese authorities have not officially announced the number of citizens Israel seized during that war and the ongoing hostilities, but a list of more than 30 people has been compiled by their families and a committee working on their cases.

The list includes at least one Syrian national and several Hezbollah fighters.

Netanyahu's office said the decision followed "extensive efforts" by Israel and Lebanon to locate and return the bodies of leaders of Lebanon's Jewish community abducted and killed in the 1980s during the country's 15-year civil war.

After the latest round of Lebanon-Israel talks in Rome last month, a Lebanese official said Israel gave Beirut a list of individuals to demand the return of their remains.

The Israeli military said in August it recovered the remains of a soldier killed in eastern Lebanon in 1982.

'Humanitarian operation' 

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that the Lebanese army received Ghazi earlier on Thursday, adding that he was taken to an army intelligence headquarters in the southern city of Tyre.

Ghazi's family, from the southeastern town of Ain Ata, said in October last year that they had lost contact with him after he had gone out to exercise.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam hailed the release in a statement, thanking "the American administration... for the efforts exerted in this regard".

He pledged to work "until the release of all our prisoners" and "the disclosure of the fate of the missing", as well as an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in hostilities since October 2023, when Tel Aviv launched the war on Gaza. What started as tit-for-tat attacks continued for a year before escalating into a full-blown war in 2024.

Hezbollah also drew Lebanon into the Middle East war two years later in support of its backer Iran after launching rockets at Israel, following joint US-Israel strikes on Tehran.

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

The conflict has calmed since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon agreed in June.

The Lebanon-Israel deal calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in "pilot zones".

A date has not yet been set for the next round of Lebanon-Israel talks, and Israel still carries out strikes on Lebanon while occupying parts of its territory.