Your Source To Everything!

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) — Five Lebanese militants, including a convicted murderer, received heroes’ welcomes Wednesday as they returned to Beirut from Israel as part of a prisoner swap.

Once in Beirut, convicted murderer Samir Kuntar — who was the longest-held Lebanese prisoner in Israel — told a crowd of thousands he’d continue to fight for the liberation of the Palestinian territories.

“I return today from Palestine, but believe me, I return to Lebanon only in order to return to Palestine,” Kuntar said.

Kuntar — convicted of killing a man and a girl in Israel in 1979 — and the other four were released by Israel and crossed into southern Lebanon to cheers. They then were flown to Beirut, where Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called them “our dear liberated heroes.”

The other four are Lebanese militants captured during the Hezbollah-Israel war two years ago. Israel on Wednesday also released the remains of 199 fighters from Lebanon.

Earlier Wednesday, Hezbollah released to Israel the bodies of two Israeli soldiers who had been abducted in 2006, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, making his first public appearance since September 2006, also greeted the five militants before cheering throngs of thousands of Hezbollah supporters in Beirut.

Read more on CNN.com