The Lebanese army announced on Thursday that it had received a soldier who was detained by Israeli forces last weekend, marking the latest in a series of prisoner releases facilitated by international mediation.
“The army, through the International Committee of the Red Cross, received the soldier who was kidnapped by the Israeli enemy,” the Lebanese military said in a statement on X, confirming that he was transported to a hospital for medical evaluation.
The handover follows Israel’s earlier release of four Lebanese detainees on Tuesday. Lebanese authorities confirmed at the time that a total of five detainees had been held, with the final individual set to be returned the following day.
Israel had framed the release as a goodwill gesture toward Lebanon’s newly appointed President Joseph Aoun. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was made “in coordination with the United States and as a gesture to Lebanon’s new president.”
The move came after high-level discussions in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura, involving representatives from Israel, Lebanon, the United States, and France. US Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus later told Lebanese news outlet Al Jadeed that the released detainees were a mix of civilians and soldiers.
The prisoner exchanges are taking place under a fragile US-French-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, reached on November 27. The truce has largely held, ending more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated into two months of full-scale conflict involving Israeli ground operations.
Despite the ceasefire, tensions remain high, with Israel continuing to conduct targeted airstrikes in Lebanon. Israeli officials have justified these operations as necessary to prevent Hezbollah from rearming or repositioning forces near the northern border.
The latest prisoner handover is seen as a positive step in ongoing diplomatic efforts to maintain stability in the region, though the long-term impact of the ceasefire remains uncertain.
