Hezbollah releases new video on 2006 abduction of Israeli soldiers

Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV station today released a new video related to the July 2006 abduction of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, which had led to the start of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

The new video details how Hezbollah operatives trained around the area where the abduction took place. The video includes a digital simulation showing how Hezbollah planned the operation.

Khalid Bazzi, also known as Hajj Qasim, who led the operation, is shown in the video speaking to Hezbollah operatives. Bazzi died during the 2006 war in an airstrike by the Israeli Air Force. Imad Mughniyah, a former senior Hezbollah commander who is believed to have masterminded the abduction, is also mentioned in the video. Mughniyah was killed in Damascus in February 2008.

Imad Mughniyeh & Khaled Bazzi.jpg

Imad Mughniyah, left, and Khalid Bazzi, right.

While today’s video included new material, it also recycled footage from a video released last year that showed portions of the attack itself. Parts of today’s video also recycled material from a 2010 program by Al Manar on Bazzi. In that program, Bazzi was praised as “the one who defeated the Zionists.”

In July 2008, the bodies of Goldwasser and Regev were returned to Israel in an exchange deal that saw the release of a few terrorists, including Samir Kuntar, and the bodies of nearly 200 Palestinian and Lebanese terrorists. In 1979, Kuntar participated in a terror attack in Nahariya that led to the deaths of a number of Israelis, including four-year-old Einat Haran. Kuntar killed Einat by bashing her skull with the butt of his rifle against a rock.

Videos such as the one released today are not uncommon. For example, in October 2012 Hamas released a video detailing its preparations for the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006. Shalit was returned to Israel in the first part of an exchange deal on Oct. 18, 2011.

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3 Comments

  • mike merlo says:

    No one is exactly sure when but ‘that time’ is certainly coming. When this ‘time'(opportunity?) surfaces hopefully Israel responds with total ruthlessness & destroys everything & everyone of consequence to & including the Rank & File, the ‘Fence Sitters’ & with Blitzkreig speed & efficiency.

  • sundoesntrise says:

    It could be possible that with all the heat Hezbollah is taking for helping a dictator oppress his own people, they are releasing this video to remind the world of how they “resist” Israel.
    Looking at the video, and the pictures, I’m reminded of how I in the past thought these guys were similar to al-Qaeda groups in their way of doing things. In reality they are diametrically opposed to the each other and both view each other as illegitimate co-religionists.

  • Solomon2 says:

    “n July 2008, the bodies of Goldwasser and Regev were returned to Israel in an exchange deal that saw the release of a few terrorists”
    Israel did not expect the bodies to be returned at that time and said so. It was Hezbollah who decided to return the bodies at that point precisely so they could create the impression of jews-dead-bodies-for-live-terrorists.

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