Hezbollah considered Wednesday's swap deal with Israel, brokered by U.N.-appointed German mediation after lengthy negotiations, as having closed the "prisoners' dossier."

The deal was a rewarding bargain for Hezbollah, in which the remaining five Lebanese prisoners held in Israel and the bodies of 199 Lebanese, Palestinian and other Arab fighters were exchanged for two dead soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who were captured in a cross-border operation in July 2006, sparking a deadly 34-day war.

The release of Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese Druze, was particularly rewarding for Hezbollah's standing at home, during which the entire country united in celebrating his freedom – from the president, down.

Kuntar was only 17 years old when he was sentenced to five consecutive life terms in Israel for an operation during which three Israelis were killed, including a child.

Addressing tens of thousands of people at a Hezbollah-organized rally in Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday night, Kuntar vowed to remain a "devout soldier of the resistance."

He promised: "I returned today from Palestine, but believe me, I will not return until I go back to Palestine. I promise my people and dear ones in Palestine that I and my dear comrades in the valiant Islamic resistance are returning."

Since his return home, Kuntar has not taken off his military fatigues and advised his supporters in Beirut and his hometown of Abey in the Druze mountains to unite behind the "Islamic resistance," in reference to Hezbollah's military wing.

At the time of his capture in 1979, Kuntar was operating with the secular Palestine Liberation Front, one of a number of Palestinian revolutionary groups.

A source close to Kuntar said the man only cared about continued armed resistance against Israel's occupation, and that his praise to Hezbollah was not only because it had secured his release, but because it has proven to be today's most effective resistance against Israel.

Kuntar's homecoming seemed to have taken reconciliation between the pro- and anti-Western rivals a step further, after they managed to form a unity government under the Doha accord that defused Lebanon's worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. The May accord came after fierce battles erupted between followers of political foes and the Hezbollah-led opposition's taking control of most of west Beirut.

Kuntar's return home has drawn talk from the pro-Western forces about protecting the resistance and a toning down of calls to disarm Hezbollah, and a promise by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah to cooperate in forming a "national defense strategy."

Addressing tens of thousands of people at the southern suburbs rally on Wednesday night via satellite video, after having made a rare and surprising public appearance to personally greet the liberated prisoners, Nasrallah said: "Our only concern is to defend our country, its territory, its water and its people, and are open to all discussion for a national defense strategy to do that."

Some pro-Western, anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians have been seeking to disarm Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, suggesting incorporating the group's fighters and abundant weapons within the formal armed forces.

While Nasrallah has repeatedly warned against attempts to disarm his group and stressed that resistance would continue against Israel so long as it continues to occupy the Shebaa Farms, a small piece of land that Syria and Lebanon say is Lebanese but the United Nations says is Syrian, Hezbollah is sending signals that it is ready to give the government a chance to diplomatically try to retrieve the land.

A source close to Hezbollah told the Middle East Times that now the prisoners' file has closed with this week's swap, the organization's military wing will give some time for the government to end the Israeli occupation of Shebaa before agreeing to disarm.

However, Israel – which sees Hezbollah as a terrorist organization – is skeptical. Israel's Haaretz daily reported on Thursday that the Israeli defense establishment was "worried that Hezbollah may seek a calculated escalation along the Lebanese border, and try to disrupt Israel Air Force flyovers in Lebanese airspace."

The organization reportedly now possesses advanced anti-aircraft missiles, which threaten to shoot down almost daily reconnaissance Israeli flights above Lebanon.

"Israeli intelligence sources said it appears the organization is looking for new excuses to clash with Israel, and that along with the fight for Shebaa Farms, disrupting the flights could become another key area of operation," Haaretz said.

But Lebanese commentators say if the Shebaa issue is resolved, if Israel does not give Hezbollah "military justification to respond," and should the indirect Syrian-Israeli negotiations make headway toward peace, Hezbollah would find no reason to keep its military resistance, focusing instead on its political and social branches. In other words, it could become a purely political party.

However, some Arab analysts say should that happen without a real solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, another form of armed struggle could arise from Lebanon and possibly elsewhere against the Jewish state.

Kuntar, for example, made that clear on Thursday. He told thousands of people who greeted him in his hometown of Abey: "Whoever believes that liberating Shebaa Farms would put an end to the resistance is deluded. This enemy will not leave us alone. The resistance would persist after Shebaa, and after that, and after that."