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Lebanese President Joseph Aoun thanked President Trump and the U.S. for “all the efforts and initiatives” that on Friday “led to the release of the first group of Lebanese detainees held by the Israeli government.”
Israel handed over one former detainee on Thursday and four more Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross, which acted as an intermediary for the transfers, confirmed in a statement Friday.
The five were among about 30 people from Lebanon who have been detained by Israel before and during its war against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, according to reports by The Times of Israel and the BBC.
Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu/Getty
“Many families in Lebanon are still waiting for answers about the fate of loved ones who may be detained, deceased or otherwise unaccounted for,” the ICRC said in its statement, noting that it “continues to engage with the families themselves and remains determined to clarify the fate of their loved ones.”
The ICRC also said it had not been given access to “detainees held in Israeli places of detention, including Lebanese nationals,” since the war in Gaza started in October 2023, and it reiterated “the requirement to receive information on conflict-related detainees and to be granted access to them.”
In his statement, Lebanon’s president called the release of the five nationals this week a first step to reaffirm “the effectiveness of the firm Lebanese position” as his government works toward “the restoration of full Lebanese sovereignty.”
Israel’s government announced the release on Thursday, saying interrogations determined the five former detainees were “civilians who are not members of any terrorist organization, have not engaged in terrorism, and there is no reason to continue holding them in Israel.”
Israeli forces have occupied a strip of land stretching about six miles into Lebanese territory from Israel’s border. Israeli officials have said the troops will remain in the “security zone,” and not allow the thousands of Lebanese residents forced to evacuate from it return until the threat posed by Hezbollah is eliminated.
