Israel Regains Body of Soldier in Swap

Israel exchanged the bodies of 40 Lebanese guerrillas for the corpse of a single Israeli soldier in the first stage of the largest prisoner swap between the two countries in two years. The second stage is to take place today when Israel frees 60 Lebanese prisoners at a crossing point in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon. Lebanon received the bodies of the Hezbollah fighters, including the son of the guerrilla movement’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, with full military honors. Earlier, Israel received the remains of Itamar Ilya, a naval commando who was killed in a botched raid in southern Lebanon in September. The body arrived to full honors at a military airport outside Tel Aviv. The International Red Cross mediated the exchange.