Israel and Hizbullah will carry out the first stage of a German-mediated prisoner swap on Thursday, the leader of the Lebanese guerrilla group has said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, defending the exchange against criticism in Israel that it would strengthen Hizbullah and Palestinian militants, called the agreement, reached yesterday, a "correct, moral and responsible decision".
The deal, three years in the making, includes the release of 400 Palestinian, 23 Lebanese and 12 other Arab prisoners as well as a German citizen, in return for an abducted Israeli businessman and three soldiers, presumed dead.
Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said further talks would deal with the fate of Israeli airman Ron Arad, missing in Lebanon since 1986, and four Iranian diplomats kidnapped in Lebanon in 1982 during the Israeli invasion.
Mr Sharon has been accused by Mr Arad's family and other Israelis who have mounted a campaign to keep him in the public eye of abandoning the airman, who has become a national hero in Israel.
Hizbullah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, was a driving force behind Israel's troop withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation. It killed an Israeli soldier on the border last Monday, drawing retaliatory air strikes.
Nasrallah said the Lebanese and some Arab prisoners would be flown to Beirut while the Palestinians would return to Gaza and the West Bank. Some freed Syrians would go back to their homes in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
He said Hizbollah would hand the four Israelis to a German mediator in Beirut on Thursday. He declined to say whether the three soldiers, presumed dead by the Israeli military, were alive or not. All have been missing since 2000.