1.   The latest news has raised hopes that another Western hostage might soon be released.

2.   Both Iran and Syria accused Israel of launching the raids in an attempt to block the release of a Western hostage held in Lebanon.

3.   Prior to the launching of the raids both Iran and Syria had indicated that a Western hostage was about to be freed.

4.   Although listed among the Western hostages held in Lebanon, the family was considered by many to have been held in Libya.

5.   The release of two Western hostages in Lebanon in early August led to hopes of an imminent comprehensive hostage deal.

6.   The letter called for the release of all detainees in the prisons of occupied Palestine and Europe in return for the release of Western hostages in Lebanon.

7.   Significant progress was made during December in recovering the bodies of Western hostages who had died or been killed during captivity.

8.   Israel had sought his release as part of negotiations for the freedom of Western hostages held in Lebanon.

9.   The freed Irish hostage, Brian Keenan has called on Britain and America to start negotiations to try to get other western hostages out of Lebanon.

10.   In his dramatic concluding chapter, Frady chronicles how Jackson used a pre-Gulf War visit to Baghdad to push Iraqi President Saddam Hussein into releasing hundreds of Western hostages.