BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Freed Lebanese prisoners, including two senior Hezbollah officials, were reunited with their families Thursday after an official welcome at Beirut airport.
Hezbollah's Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani were the first to step out of the German plane which carried them and the other prisoners to Beirut under a swap deal with Israel.
Despite his elation, Obeid said, "I cannot forget the prisoners who remained behind in the Israeli prisons, especially the Palestinians and our brother Samir Kantar."
Kantar, the longest-held Lebanese prisoner in Israel, was excluded from the deal.
Anwar Yassin, another freed prisoner who belongs to the Communist Party, saluted the efforts of Hezbollah's Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah for arranging the swap under Hezbollah released an Israeli captive and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers.
It is the third such swap deal concluded between Israel and Hezbollah since 1991.
The freed detainees were greeted at the airport by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, House Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah as well as a number of Muslim and Christian religious leaders.
Thousands of cheering Hezbollah followers and relatives of the detainees gathered outside the airport, waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags.
