Position of Lebanon in the 2006 Lebanon War had made comments on television saying that Israel should consider a prisoner exchange with Hezbollah. On 13 July, a prominent Lebanese Druze member of parliament, Walid Jumblatt, criticized Hezbollah in an interview with the French daily "Le Figaro": "Hezbollah played a very dangerous game by kidnapping these two soldiers. ... Israel has withdrawn from Lebanon. These kidnappings took place outside our country's borders. Hezbollah is raising the stakes, with the support of Iran and Syria, which in the past year has become a satellite state of Tehran. … Hezbollah will have to explain itself to the Lebanese. ... [We need
Lebanon hostage crisis Lebanon hostage crisis The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height. The hostages were mostly Americans and Western Europeans, but 21 national origins were represented. At least eight hostages died in captivity; some were murdered, while others died from lack of adequate medical attention to illnesses. Those taking responsibility for the kidnapping used different names, but the testimony of former hostages indicates that almost all the kidnappings were done by a single group of about a dozen men, coming from various clans