(30 Jan 2004)
1. German government plane carrying Lebanese and other Arab prisoners taxiing at Beirut airport
2. Close-up German flag on side of plane
3. Mid shot former prisoners walking out of plane
4. Soldiers standing by red carpet
5. Released prisoners exiting plane (Sheik Abdel Karin Obeid leading the group with long beard and white Shiite Muslim turban, and behind him with a cane is Mustafa Dirani - both Hezbollah leaders)
6. Wide shot plane
7. Obeid and Dirani greeting Lebanese officials - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Cabinet ministers and Hezbollah guerrilla leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah (in brown robe)
8. Other former prisoners leaving plane
9. Various of celebrations inside airport terminal building
10. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Anwar Yassin, Released Lebanese Prisoner:
"Our struggle is not finished yet, the fight is going on to release all prisoners from the Israeli cells. And my thanks to every honourable fighter for freedom and human rights, despite their nationality or race."
11. Various of relatives crying
12. Freed prisoner kissing ground
13. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Hassan Ankoni, Released Lebanese Prisoner:
"This is a great victory for us and with God's help we'll liberate the rest of our land and Shabaa (a village on the border of Israel and Lebanon) and our prisoners from the Israeli prisons."
14. Various of former prisoners in airport building
STORYLINE:
Lebanese and other Arab prisoners freed in a mass exchange of prisoners with Israel arrived in Beirut on Thursday night to a rousing welcome from the Cabinet and thousands of people.
The German government plane, which touched down at 7:08 p.m. (1708 GMT), had flown from a military base near Cologne where the more than two dozen Arab prisoners were exchanged earlier on Thursday for an Israeli businessman and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers killed on the Lebanese-Israeli border in 2000.
Minutes earlier, an Israeli plane landed in Tel Aviv, Israel, carrying the businessman, Elhanan Tannenbaum and the coffins of the three soldiers. Israel arranged a memorial service for the dead soldiers.
Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid, a Hezbollah leader and one of the most famous prisoners released, was the first to disembark at Beirut airport.
Sporting a long beard and white Shiite Muslim turban, he walked steadily toward a group of government officials.
He was followed by another famous ex-prisoner, Mustafa Dirani, a leader of Hezbollah.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Cabinet ministers and Hezbollah guerrilla leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah welcomed the prisoners on the airport tarmac.
Obeid burst into tears as his children and relatives hugged and kissed him. The other prisoners were also mobbed by their families.
Thousands of supporters of Hezbollah lined the airport highway to greet the more than two dozen freed prisoners with flags, patriotic songs and fireworks.
Hezbollah laid on a massive rally for the prisoners in its south Beirut stronghold. An estimated 10-thousand people had gathered for the rally by the time the plane landed.
The Lebanese prisoners, who number 21 according to Hezbollah's Al Manar television, and seven other Arabs were flown to Germany on an Israeli Air Force plane early on Thursday.
At about the same time, a German Air Force plane took off from Lebanon bearing Tannenbaum and the three soldiers' coffins.
As part of the complex deal, Israel earlier on Thursday freed about 400 Palestinians to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They were greeted by jubilant relatives, many of whom expressed thanks to Hezbollah.
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