✍The prisoner exchange

On 16 July 2008 Hezbollah handed over the bodies of the two soldiers Goldwasser and Regev in exchange for the release of Samir Kuntar and four of the party's prisoners and the remains of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian martyrs; Kuntar was given a hero's welcome, and the deal closed the file of the July war. In the reception speech Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Israel only recovers its soldiers through negotiation and that the failure of any deal means a new capture operation, because the resistance "promised and will keep its promise", and demanded the closing of the file of Imam al-Sadr: "If the Imam is a martyr, let us know."