Lebanese President Emil Lahoud said releasing prisoners and detainees through negotiations constitutes Israel’s unequivocal admittance that the resistance is legitimate, according to the Lebanese daily Al-Mustaqbal.
The premier was responding to the announcement of the impending prisoner exchange deal between the Lebanon-based terror group Hizbullah and Israel.
Israel is also admitting that the resistance is nationalist and “not a marginal terror group as they claim,” Lahoud said.
He said the outcome of the negotiations are “a great victory” for Lebanon and its resistance, meaning Hizbullah, as well as for the Palestinian people and Arabs in general.
The prisoners to be released in the deal include 400 Palestinians, 23 Lebanese and 12 Arabs of other nationalities.
Lahoud said the release is part of a larger liberation and that he is sure the contested Shib’a Farms in southern Lebanon will be liberated soon.