●Al Jazeera interview: no release without an exchange; Berri the only channel

On 21 July 2006, in an interview with Ghassan Ben Jeddou on Al Jazeera, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah rejected any unconditional release of the two soldiers and affirmed that their return could only come through indirect negotiations via Nabih Berri, that the party's leadership and its rockets were intact, and that any ground operation would cost Israel dearly; he asked the Arab governments only for neutrality: "Just stand neutral."