Israel Returns Hezbollah Remains

Guerrillas' Bodies Given To Lebanon Amid Rising Tensions

(AP)  Israel returned to Lebanon on Friday the remains of three Hezbollah guerrillas killed by in cross-border fighting this week in a move that averted a further deterioration along the tense Lebanese-Israeli frontier.

The bodies were brought to southern Lebanon's Naqoura border crossing on the Mediterranean coastline at midmorning by vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross before being transferred into Lebanese ambulances.

The hand over was monitored by peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which has its headquarters in Naqoura.

Lebanon demanded the return of the bodies as a step toward defusing the tensions along the Lebanese-Israeli border, which erupted in heavy clashes this week. Israel killed four guerrillas on Monday and took three of the bodies, while the fourth Hezbollah member died on the Lebanese side.

The Israeli army said in a statement that the three bodies were returned to Lebanon "following the Lebanese government's urgent request to do so."

Hezbollah guerrillas clad in black uniforms lined both sides of a stretch of road at Naqoura, about 60 miles south of the capital, Beirut, and saluted as the caskets were carried past on the shoulders of other members of the armed group.

Hezbollah's yellow flags both wrapped the coffins and fluttered from flagpoles in the breeze as a band played martial music.

Families of the guerrillas and Hezbollah supporters were among several hundred people waiting for the bodies. Some threw flower petals at the caskets, while Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, placed wreaths on them.

Shouts of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America," the trademark Hezbollah slogans, rang out from young supporters who punched the air with their fists and praised Hezbollah and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

Rabih Bawad, brother of slain guerrilla Wissam Bawab, said he was happy to see his body returned.

"We hold our head high with martyr Wissam and his comrades and we wish to continue on this course," he said on Hezbollah's al-Manar television from Naqoura.

A larger ceremony is planned for later Friday in Hezbollah's southern Beirut stronghold.