Samer Wehbe and Morshed al-Ali
Daily Star correspondents

The freed captives were given a hero’s welcome Friday as they returned to their hometowns in the South, the Bekaa and Aley.
Jawad Qasfi returned to Sultaniyeh, his hometown in Bint Jbeil, where he was greeted by his relatives and friends amid rejoicing and victory songs.
Carried by a crowd of villagers, Qasfi visited the grave of his only daughter, Jamila, who was born in his absence and died from kidney failure at the age of 13 last year.
On his way to Jibsheet, Sheikh Abdel-Karim Obeid stopped in Nabatieh where he was greeted by Marjayoun-Hasbaya MP Nazih Mansour, Hizbullah Commander in the South Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, Amal official Hajj Jamil Hayek and other figures. A ceremony was held and sheep were slain to welcome Obeid, after an absence of 15 years.
Obeid entered his hometown accompanied by his sons, Mujahid and Sajed, and Hizbullah officials. His convoy was preceded by horses, shots were fired in the air in celebration and people danced.
In the Bekaa, the Progressive Socialist Party organized a welcoming ceremony at the Aley roundabout, in the presence of officials and residents, for Hassan Anqouni and Mustafa Dirani.
Dirani and Anqouni continued to Dahr al-Baidar, where an official ceremony was held outside the police station in the presence of Bekaa Governor Antoine Suleiman and high-ranking military officials. Both men were escorted by 10 Internal Security Forces (ISF) vehicles and six motorcycles toward Qsar Naba and Mashgara. ISF personnel stopped traffic at all intersections leading to Chtaura and Dahr al-Baidar, diverting it onto side roads.
At the Chtaura square, 10,000 people gathered to greet Dirani and Anqouni, who responded by making the victory sign. The convoy was divided into two, as one part accompanied Anqouni to Mashgara and the other accompanied Dirani to Qsar Naba. The men entered both towns ­ where ceremonies were held ­ to the sound of prayers from mosques.
Standing outside his home, Dirani said that the enemy can kidnap a person from his home, but he can never take away his will to resist and his determination to fight.
Mikhael Nohra arrived in Qlaya in Marjayoun with his wife and his four children: Fadi, 27, Shadi, 26, Shadia, 24, Charbel, 17 and his brother Roger.
Nohra, 47, is a retired ISF first sergeant major who was captured from his home in July 1997 and moved from one Israeli prison to another in the occupied territories.
Nohra said he could not describe his happiness at being home, especially after his mistreatment by Israeli soldiers.
“I was not treated like a human being by the enemy, whose soldiers deserve to be killed and captured,” he said. Nohra said he was tried and sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of carrying information that threatened Israeli security.
Nohra talked about torture, saying that “they cover your head with a black bag then put you in an iron closet for 48 hours during the hot months of July and August.”
The village of Ain Qana in Iqlim al-Tuffah gave a glorious welcome to Fawzi Ayoub, 38, who was captured three-and-a-half years ago in the West Bank during the Israeli invasion of the Jenin camp. Ayoub arrived in his hometown where banners carrying words of welcome and Lebanese and Hizbullah flags were raised.
Thousands of people who came from surrounding villages welcomed him and escorted him to the Husseiniyeh where he thanked Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for his major role in the liberation of the prisoners.