BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) – Hezbollah has held a funeral procession for eight militants killed during the 2006 war with Israel. Their bodies were returned in a prisoners swap this week.

Thousands of Hezbollah supporters attended the funeral Friday in the group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Hezbollah’s Executive Council chief Hashem Safieddine says the eight men defeated Israel twice, once during the war in 2006 and now by returning home. He spoke in front of their coffins, covered with Hezbollah’s yellow flags. The bodies were to be taken later to the dead men’s hometowns.

Israel released five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of almost 200 guerrillas in return for the bodies of two soldiers whose capture triggered the 34-day war.