Israeli-Hezbollah prisoner swap near?

JERUSALEM, June 16 (UPI) -- A Hezbollah-Israeli prisoner exchange is expected within a few days, an attorney involved in negotiations said Monday in Lebanon.

In the exchange, kidnapped Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev would be returned to Israel in exchange for Samir Kuntar, who participated in a 1979 deadly attack on an Israeli family, and four other Lebanese prisoners, Ynetnews reported Monday.

An attorney with knowledge of the exchange said Israeli and Hezbollah officials were on the verge of the exchange and "vital information that has never been disclosed before will be released" once the exchange occurs.

The Israeli proposal to release Kuntar and four other Lebanese prisoners in exchange for Goldwasser and Regev is considered Israel's "final offer," Ynetnews.com said. Ofer Dekel, chief negotiator for the kidnapped soldiers, reportedly met Sunday with German mediator Gerhard Konrad to receive Hezbollah's answer to Israel's offer.

Hezbollah militants captured Regev and Goldwasser during a cross-border raid on July 12, 2006.