Lebanese Jews' remains sought in Israel-Lebanon talks

Israel has asked Lebanon for information on the remains of Lebanese Jews kidnapped and killed during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, a demand raised in recent Lebanon-Israel talks.

A person close to the negotiations said Israel gave Beirut a list of Jewish individuals during talks in Rome last month and asked for the return of their remains. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the issue was linked to efforts by Israel and Lebanon to locate and return the bodies of leaders of Lebanon's Jewish community abducted and killed in the 1980s.

Israel also returned five people to Lebanon over the past two days after seizing them amid fighting with Hezbollah.

Lebanon's Jewish community has fallen from about 22,000 before the civil war to around 30 today. Eleven Jews were abducted in the mid-1980s, including Yitzhak Sasson, president of the Supreme Council of the Jewish Community in Lebanon, and Elie Hallak, its vice-president. Their kidnappers announced the execution of most of the hostages, but only four bodies were recovered.

Judaism is one of Lebanon's 18 recognised sects. The Maghen Abraham synagogue in Beirut's Wadi Abu Jmil quarter was looted during the civil war and later restored.