Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that progress had been made in negotiations on two Israeli soldiers the Shiite Muslim group captured last year, but did not confirm if they are still alive. "For the first time, I can say that we have advanced positively in the negotiations concerning the two Israeli soldiers and (Lebanese) prisoners," Nasrallah said in a television address.He was speaking a day after the first prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah in nearly four years. "The doors that had been closed in this case have started to open," he said. "There is hope and optimism, which did not exist before, on moving forward in the negotiations."
He added without giving details that the talks between the Shiite militia and the "Zionist enemy" were being handled by an international mediator appointed by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the swap and urged both parties to move ahead with the release of the two Israeli soldiers and "to find the necessary solutions for the remaining Lebanese citizens that are still in Israeli detention."