Red Cross says transferred four people released by Israel to Lebanon

The Red Cross on Friday said it had facilitated the transfer to Lebanon of four more people detained by Israel, a day after a first person was freed.

Israel is believed to have seized dozens of people from Lebanon amidst its recent wars with Iran-backed Hezbollah.

"The International Committee of the Red Cross, at the request of the relevant parties, facilitated the transfer to Lebanon of five individuals released from Israeli detention," the ICRC said in a statement.

"One individual was transferred on Thursday, and four others on Friday," it added.

Israel on Thursday said it had decided to release five civilian captives, freeing the first of them that day.

The four freed on Friday are two Lebanese and two Syrian nationals, according to a Lebanese official who requested anonymity.

An AFP correspondent on Friday saw three ICRC vehicles arrive from Israeli-occupied parts of southern Lebanon at the Lebanese army checkpoint in Al-Amiriya, which marks the start of the territory controlled by Beirut.

The convoy was escorted by two Lebanese army vehicles to the southern city of Tyre, where the released individuals were to undergo medical examinations and be questioned by the military.

Ahmad Atwi, a resident of the south, waited at the checkpoint to see if his friend, seized by Israel last year, would be released.

"I hope he will be among the released," he told AFP.

- 'Firm Lebanese position' -

The five released individuals are the first to be freed since Beirut called in August talks with Israel for the release of an initial group seized since the start of a 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said that "after their interrogation was completed, it became clear that they are civilians who... have not engaged in terrorism".

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a statement expressed his gratitude "for all the efforts exerted, particularly by the United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump, and by international bodies, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross".

"This first step reaffirms the strength of the firm Lebanese position," he added.

Lebanon began direct talks with Israel in April, after Hezbollah dragged the country into the Middle East war with strikes on Israel in March in support of its backer Tehran.

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

- Remnants of Lebanese Jews -

Israel on Thursday, through the ICRC, freed Malek Ghazi, whose family had lost contact with him in October last year when he went out to exercise near his southeastern hometown of Ain Ata.

Lebanese authorities have not officially announced the number of citizens Israel seized during that war and a subsequent 2026 conflict, but a list of more than 30 people has been compiled by their families and a committee working on their cases.

After the latest round of Lebanon-Israel talks in Rome last month, a Lebanese official said Israel gave Beirut a list of individuals to demand the return of their remains.

The United States, which is sponsoring the Lebanon-Israel talks, commended both Israel and Lebanon "for demonstrating good faith through these initial steps", a State Department spokesperson said, added that Washington hoped "this will serve as the basis for expanded discussions on other civilian issues".

Netanyahu's office said the decision followed "extensive efforts" by Israel and Lebanon to locate and return the bodies of leaders of Lebanon's Jewish community abducted and killed in the 1980s during the country's 15-year civil war.

Twelve Lebanese Jews, including the head of their community, were kidnapped between 1984 and 1986, when clandestine groups accused of being linked to Hezbollah were abducting Westerners. Most were executed.

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict has calmed since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon in June.

The Lebanon-Israel deal calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in "pilot zones".

nad/jsa