Jets carrying prisoners to be exchanged in a long-awaited deal between Israel and Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah touched down before dawn today at a military airport in Cologne.

In the German-brokered deal, Israel is freeing 436 prisoners in return for kidnapped businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers as part of a rare agreement between combatants who have fought in Lebanon and along the Israeli border for almost 20 years.

Most of the prisoners Israel is to release are Palestinians who will be set free in Gaza and the West Bank.

But some three dozen from other countries will be exchanged at the airport this morning.

Prominent among the non- Palestinians are guerrilla leaders Mustafa Dirani, captured in 1994, and Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid, seized in 1989.

Israel was also expected to release a German, Stephen Smyrek, 32, arrested in Israel in November 1997 and sentenced to ten years after being convicted of being a member of Hezbollah.The bodies of the three Israeli soldiers, Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan, and Omar Souad, captured in October 2000, were to be flown back to Israel for a memorial service .

Some Israeli critics expressed concern that the arrangement could encourage more kidnappings.