Captive's family told Hezbollah deal likely

Relatives of one of two Israeli soldiers abducted by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in 2006 said yesterday they had been told by an Israeli negotiator that a German-mediated prisoner swap was coming together.

"We had a meeting with (envoy) Ofer Dekel and he briefed us, not on the details, but he told us in general terms that there is about to be a deal," Zvi Regev, father of Eldad Regev, told Israel Radio. He said the meeting with Dekel was two weeks ago.

But Regev's brother Benny later cautioned against expecting the imminent return of Eldad or fellow captive Ehud Goldwasser.