2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid
| 2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Israeli-Lebanese conflict | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Israel | File:Flag of Hezbollah.svg Hezbollah | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 3 captured, 7 injured as a result of artillery fire | None | ||||||
On October 7, 2000, three Israeli soldiers, Adi Avitan 22, Staff Sgt. Benyamin Avraham 21, and Staff Sgt. Omar Sawaidwere 27 were abducted by the Hezbollah terror organization. They were abducted while patroling the southern (Israeli) side of the Israeli-Lebanese border. This borderline is officially recognized by the UN Secretary General and the Security Council as the Israeli deployment line, and is fully in accord with Security Council Resolution 425. [1] The soldiers were killed either during the attack or in its immediate aftermath [2].
The Abduction
While patrolling the Israel-Lebanon borderline near the Shebaa Farms at Har Dov, their patrol unti was ambushed by Hezbollah terrorists who had disguised themselves as UN personnel, using uniforms and vehicles carrying the UNIFIL insignia.
Since their abduction, they were held incommunicado by the Hizbullah in an unknown location, in gross violation of international law. The captors denied the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other parties permission to visit them and to learn at first hand about their state of health and the conditions they were held in. [3]
Findings from the scene of the abduction indicate that the soldiers' vehicle was bombed, and that as a result of the explosion and the shootings, all or at least some of the soldiers were wounded.
The abducted soldiers were:
- Staff Sgt. Binyamin Abraham, 21
- Staff Sgt. Adi Avitan, 22
- Sgt. Omar Sawaed, 27
Subsequent negotiations
On November 9, 2003 The Government of Israel announced that an arrangement had been concluded regarding the return of the three missing IDF soldiers - as well as abducted Israeli citizen Elchanan Tenenbaum, who had been captured by Hezbollah after being lured to Dubai for a drug deal .
Prisoner exchange
Hezbollah instigated negotiations over the release of 14 Lebanese prisoners, together with a number of Palestinian prisoners. The prisoner exchange took place on 29 January 2004 [4]:
- 30 Lebanese and Arab prisoners,
- the remains of 59 Lebanese militants and civilians,
- 400 Palestinian prisoners [5], and
- maps showing Israeli mines in South Lebanon were exchanged for Tenenbaum, a businessman captured in 2000 on a business trip to Kuwait and held in Lebanon by Hezbollah, along with the remains of the three dead soldiers.
On Thursday evening, January 29, 2004, the coffins of Staff Sgt. Binyamin Abraham, Staff Sgt. Adi Avitan and Staff Sgt. Omar Sawaed were positively identified and arrived during the evening hours in Israel. The soldiers were returned in an IAF aircraft along with an IDF delegation headed by Chief Military Rabbi, Brg. Gen. Israel Weiss.
Upon the arrival of the coffins, a military ceremony took place in the presence of their families and commanders. The ceremony was attended by former President Moshe Katsav, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz, former Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and former IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon. [6]
Address by Sharon upon the arrival of the bodies
Post abduction events
- Hezbollah's desire for Israeli prisoners that could be exchanged with Israel led to Hezbollah's abduction of Israeli soldiers, which triggered the 2006 Lebanon War.
- On July 16, 2008, Hezbollah transferd the bodies of Israeli soldiers captured durin the 2006 Lebanon War, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, in exchange for the Lebanese convicted murderer and terrorist Samir Kuntar, four other Hezbollah militants captured by Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War (Khaled Zidan, Maher Kurani, Mohammed Sarur and Hussein Suleiman), and the bodies of 200 Lebanese and Palestinians.
References
- ^ "Israelis Held by the Hizbullah - Oct 2000-Jan 2004". mfa.gov.il.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Israel, Hezbollah swap prisoners". CNN.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "IsraelWar touches raw nerve for grieving parents". Newsday.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Israel, Hezbollah swap prisoners". CNN.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "The release of security prisoners and administrative detainees - 29-Jan-2004". mfa.gov.il.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Government statement on prisoner exchange - 24-Jan-2004". mfa.gov.il.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Address by PM Sharon upon the arrival of the bodies of the kidnapped soldiers - Jan 29- 2004". mfa.gov.il.
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