Nasrallah: we regret the kidnappings that led to war with Israel.

The leader of Hizbullah, Nasrallah, has admitted that he would not have given orders for two Israeli soldiers to be kidnapped if he had known that Israel would launch a war on the scale of the one it launched.

On one level this could be perceived as an attempt to pass the blame on to the Israelis whilst simultaneously claiming an historic victory, sort of having your cake and eating it. However, I think there is a certain truth to what he says. Certainly, at the time I and many others thought that Olmert would be forced to stop his actions in Gaza and search for a negotiated solution. I certainly didn't foresee that Olmert would widen the conflict into a war that he was certain to lose.

I argued that Olmert would have to begin a climbdown, never thinking for a minute that he would indulge himself in the orgy of violence that he did.

However, I do suspect that Nasrallah's penitence is no more than an attempt to rub salt in Israel's wounds and make Olmert's position even more untenable as, during the interview, Nasrallah made it clear that a prisoner exchange is about to take place.

The Israeli government refused to confirm this, although officials have said privately that a prisoner exchange was probably the only way forward.

Nasrallah is reminding the Israeli public that this was all he ever wanted and that all the death and destruction was a chosen Israeli response. He's turning the screw on Olmert, knowing that he's in a terrible corner of his own making.

"We did not think, even one percent, that the capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude," Hassan Nasrallah, the cleric who leads Hizbullah, told Lebanon's New TV channel. "You ask me, if I had known on July 11 ... that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not." He said Italy would play a part in negotiating the soldiers' eventual release. "Contacts recently began for negotiations," he said. "It seems that Italy is trying to get into the subject." From the start, Mr Nasrallah has said he wanted to exchange the soldiers for Lebanese and Palestinians held in Israel.

Sergio de Gregorio, head of Italy's senate defence committee, said that Iran, Hizbullah's backer, wanted Italy involved. Mr de Gregorio told Reuters he expected talks to start this week. He said the two Israelis were "still alive, fortunately", but would not talk about how they were or what kind of deal might free them.

An Egyptian newspaper reported that German diplomats had helped negotiate a deal to have them freed in two or three weeks. A number of Lebanese held by Israel would be freed in return a day or two later, it said.

A second deal to free Corporal Gilad Shalit, captured near Gaza in June, was also imminent, the paper said. The Israeli government has said repeatedly that it would not strike a deal with the Palestinians to secure his release.

And so Nasrallah highlights his victory. Reminding us all that the prisoner swap was always on the table and completing Olmert's humiliation as he now has no option other than to engage in the very deal that he said he would never strike.

Since the war ended, the Israeli government has come under growing pressure from critics in the press and the army angry at the handling of the war.

In particular, soldiers complain that Israel failed to emerge from the conflict with a convincing victory over Hizbullah or with the release of the two soldiers. Protests have demanded the resignation of prime minister Ehud Olmert and his defence minister, Amir Peretz.

Many people have also called for a state commission of inquiry, a quasi-judicial investigation into the government's handling of the war. So far, Mr Olmert has refused to give in; a state commission was not even raised yesterday at his weekly cabinet meeting.

Mr Nasrallah also said he did not expect a renewed conflict, even though many others are worried about the ceasefire lasting. "We are not heading to a second round," he said.

It is highly unlikely that either side would want a second round of the madness that we have witnessed in Lebanon. However, if anyone is resigning over this it will be Olmert and not Nasrallah who will be walking the plank. Further emphasis of the nonsense Bush talks when he claims victory for his tactics and the state of Israel.

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Tags: Nasrallah, Hizbullah, Olmert, Israel, Lebanon, US, war, kidnap, kidnapping, regret