BEIRUT, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Syria's al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front handed over five Hezbollah captives on Thursday as part of a cease-fire between the two sides.
Hezbollah's War Media outlet said an official convoy is taking the freed captives from Syria's al-Saan to Lebanon's al-Qaa.
The five captives, identified as Ahmed Mezher, Moussa Kourani, Hassan Taha, Mohammed Mahdi Shoaib and Mohammad Jawad Ali Yassine, were handed over at the al-Saan crossing in Syria's central province of Hama.
They were captured in central and northern Syria in 2015 and 2016.
Meanwhile, thousands of Syrian refugees and militants evacuated from the outskirts of the northeastern Lebanese border town of Arsal arrived in the areas in central Syria held by rebel and jihadist fighters.
They were bussed out of the restive border area between Lebanon and Syria as part of the cease-fire which involves the evacuation of thousands of militants and refugees from northeastern Lebanon to Syria.
A total of 7,777 people, a vast majority of them civilians but also including militants, were transported back into Syria from Lebanon's Arsal region on Wednesday.
The cease-fire ended six days of fighting in the border area between Hezbollah and al-Nusra Front.
On Thursday, buses carrying three groups of Syrian jihadists and refugees arrived in an area of Hama under the control of rebels and jihadists, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Another three Hezbollah fighters were released as part of the deal late on Tuesday. They were captured during the latest Arsal offensive after losing their way in a mountain region.
