'UN helped Lebanese prisoners slip Israeli custody'

Norwegian paper 'Aftenposten' claims 1992 rescue operation could have jeopardized Norway's role in UN if had been discovered at time.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
UNIFIL 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
UNIFIL 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten published a report on Monday claiming that Norwegian UN soldiers helped to rescue two Lebanese prisoners who escaped from the Khiam prison in southern Lebanon in 1992.
The Aftenposten report claimed that the prison was Mossad-controlled.
The rescue operation could have jeopardized Norway's role in the UN if it had been discovered at the time, the report suggested.
According to the Norwegian report, author Odd Karsten Tveit describes the rescue operation of the two prisoners in his new book and says that it all happened in the deepest of secrecy.
The prisoners, who found themselves in Norwegian custody in southern Lebanon, could have been taken prisoner, tortured and possibly killed, the Aftenposten report claimed.
The report described how the rescue operation was carried out, claiming that the Lebanese prisoners dressed up in the Norwegian uniform jackets and UN helmets.
During the operation the prisoners were placed in a Norwegian armored vehicles which raced past Israeli soldiers and Lebanese militiamen who were searching for the men, Aftenposten put forward in its report.
Despite the sensitivity of the issue, the report suggests that UNIFIL, the UN force in Lebanon, was not informed of the operation.