BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah hinted Friday his group might kidnap Israel Defense Forces soldiers to win the release of three Lebanese citizens held by Israel.

"When we fail in negotiations, and that should be determined soon, we will only have one choice left in front of is. It is what brought back some of the brothers who are among us now," Nasrallah said referring to last year's exchange of a Hezbollah-captured IDF reserve colonel and the bodies of three soldiers in return for hundreds Arab prisoners.

Germany is currently leading mediation efforts towards a prisoner exchange between Lebanon and Israel.

Nasrallah made the comments during a ceremony commemorating the 26th anniversary of the capture of Samir Kantar, Israel's longest-held Lebanese prisoner. Kantar, a Lebanese militant, has been in an Israeli prison since 1979 for killing three Israelis.

Israel has said it will not release Kantar before getting information about Ron Arad, an Israeli navigator whose plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. Israeli reports have often said Arad has been taken to Iran, but Iran has always denied this.

Hezbollah has promised to find concrete information about Arad but on Friday Nasrallah said he "strongly rejected" linking the release of Lebanese to the Israeli pilot.

"If we are able to get something about Arad that opens the way for a solution then this is good," the black-turbaned cleric said. "We refuse to link the fate of brothers that exist with a human being whose fate is unknown."

The sheik also expressed hope for the release of Nasim Nisr, a Lebanese-born Israeli captured for having contacts with Hezbollah, and Yehia Skaff, who was detained in 1978 while taking part in a Palestinian militant attack that killed 35 Israelis.

Elhanan Tannenbaum, an IDF reserve colonel, was taken into Hezbollah captivity in October 2000, after he was lured to the Persian Gulf on a false passport. Days earlier, three IDF soldiers were killed during an attempt by Hezbollah to capture them in the disputed Shebaa farms and the group held their bodies.

Tannenbaum was released in January 2004 and the remains of the three soldiers handed over to Israel as part of an exchange deal that involved the release of more than 400 Arab prisoners from Israeli jails and the bodies of 60 Lebanese guerrillas. (AP)