LEBANON: Bodies Swap Brings Uneasy Triumph

By Mona Alami BEIRUT, Jul 24 (IPS) - The image of 199 coffins covered with Lebanese, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags neatly aligned in a southern Beirut compound was broadcast last week on all national Lebanese TV stations. On Tuesday this week, 144 of these remains were transferred to Syria, their final place of rest. Such images have stirred varying emotions among the Lebanese population. On Jul. 16, a massive prisoner swap operation between Israel and Hezbollah -- the eighth since 1991 -- took place on the southern Naquoura Lebanese border, leading to the release of the last five Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails and 199 bodies of Lebanese and Palestinian fighters. About two years after the July 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel -- which erupted after Hezbollah crossed the border and captured two Israeli soldiers,... [read full story]