Hezbollah offers to exchange captured Israeli

The leader of the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has offered to free a captured Israeli in exchange for a guarantee that Israel would spare the lives of about 100 Palestinian fighters trapped in the refugee camp in Jenin.

Sheikh Nasrallah said his group would release the man, Elhanan Tennenbaum, in return for an end to the Israeli attack on the camp.

The offer came as violence continued along Israel's northern border with Lebanon and Syria.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah launched its most sustained attack on Israeli army positions in the past 12 days of rising tension.

Israel responded with artillery fire and air strikes, expanding its attacks for the first time to hit targets in the Bekaa valley.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service