A Look at the Five Prisoners Freed by Israel as Part of Exchange With Hezbollah

Published January 13, 2015

The five Lebanese prisoners freed by Israel Wednesday as part of an exchange deal with Hezbollah:

SAMIR KANTAR -- Born on July 20, 1952. Kantar was serving multiple life terms in Israel after he and three other guerrillas infiltrated Israel in 1979 and staged an attack in the northern coastal town of Nahariya. An Israeli court convicted him of killing a policeman and then kidnapping a man and his 4-year-old daughter and killing them outside their home.

The court found he had killed the girl by bashing her head with a rifle. He still denies this, saying the girl was killed in the crossfire. As the attack unfolded, the girl's mother hid inside a crawl space inside their home and accidentally smothered their crying 2-year-old daughter, fearing Kantar would find them.

Two of his comrades were killed in a shootout with police. The third was also convicted and freed in the 1980s as part of a prisoner swap. He was a member of the radical Palestine Liberation Front.

MAHER KOURANI -- Hezbollah guerrilla, born in 1981 in the southern village of Yater. Married and has a son. His son was born after his capture and his family named the boy Hassan after the Hezbollah leader. He was captured by Israeli troops on July 29, 2006 in the southern town of Shiheen near Naqoura.

HUSSEIN SULEIMAN -- Hezbollah guerrilla, born in 1985 and hails from the coastal region of Byblos but is a resident of Beirut's southern suburbs. He was captured during the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

KHADER ZEIDAN -- A Hezbollah guerrilla born in 1982 and from the southern town of Marwaniyeh. He was captured by Israeli troops in the nearby village of Ghandouriyeh during the 2006 war.

MOHAMMED SUROUR -- Hezbollah guerrilla born in 1987. He comes from the border of village of Aita al-Shaab from where Hezbollah guerrillas crossed into Israel on July 12, 2006 and captured the two soldiers. He was captured during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

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