Israel Returns Hezbollah Spy

Israel returned a Hezbollah spy to Lebanon today and may have started a prisoner exchange, BBC reports. Hezbollah quickly handed over the bodies of Israeli troops killed in 2006, but officials on both sides deny a swap is under way. Secret talks clearly are, perhaps aided by German mediators; a larger prisoner swap may include the two Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the 2006 war.

The spy, Nissim Nasser, returned home to a Hezbollah party and patriotic tunes blaring over loudspeakers. Born in Lebanon to a Shia Muslim father and Jewish mother, Nasser moved to the Tel Aviv area after Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982. He was convicted of spying in 2002 and served a 6-year sentence. (More Hezbollah stories.)