Nasrallah Shifts From Missing Lebanese to Missing Iranians
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah disclosed Thursday that the bodies of Palestinian Dalal Mughraby and Lebanese Yahya Skaff were not included in a swap with Israel a year ago.
Nasrallah, addressing a press conference on the first anniversary of the swap, also said the Lebanese government is responsible for disclosing the fate of four Iranian diplomats who went missing during Israel”s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Nasrallah claimed the Israelis have provided Hizbullah with a report on the four Iranians, claiming they were kidnapped by the Lebanese Forces at a checkpoint in north Lebanon and killed later.
The Lebanese Forces Party, Nasrallah said, "has the key to the mystery" of the four Iranian diplomats.
"Had they turned them over to Israel, they should say that. Had they killed them, they should turn over their bodies," Nasrallah stressed.
The cabinet of national unity, in which the Lebanese Forces Party is represented and holds the justice portfolio, is responsible for the issues, Nasrallah added.
He was referring to Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar who had been nominated to the post by the Lebanese Forces.
The LFP says it has no information about the four Iranians, who allegedly went missing at the Barbara checkpoint at a time Elie Hobeika was in charge of the militia”s security apparatus.
Hobeika, who broke away from the Lebanese Forces at a later date and set up alliance with Syria, was killed by a powerful car bombing near his residence in Beirut”s eastern suburb of Hazmiyeh on Jan. 24, 2002.
Nasrallah also renewed his attack on Egypt, saying he "denounces" Cairo for refusing to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza.
He also said the war on Gaza "has not stopped. It is persisting through other means. They are exerting pressure on Hamas as related to funding the rebuilding of the sector."
He also urged Arabs to focus on the issue of "thousands of Palestinian and Arab detainees held by Israel."