So the rumors are true, and Lebanon will soon be welcoming back, among others, Samir Kantar, held in an Israeli prison these past 29 years. Hezbollah is already trumpeting the deal as another major victory for the Resistance and, no doubt, a vindication of the kidnapping operation that precipitated the July War of 2006.

On paper, Hezbollah appears to have the better deal. Assuming they are dead, Hezbollah will give Israel two bodies in exchange for five “live” Lebanese and an unspecified number of Palestinians detainees. So, two years later, the abduction of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser has done exactly what it was intended to. Mission, as they say, accomplished.

At least, that is the picture being painted by Hezbollah officials today. But viewed in proper perspective, this is creative accounting at its most tasteless. The prisoner swap is not the whole deal, just the final clause. Conveniently forgotten are the reams of gory appendices in a much larger and bloodier contract written out almost exactly two years ago, with all of Lebanon as collateral. Indeed, the full audit is still ongoing.

How much is the Resistance’s pledge worth? Add to the two Israeli bodies the bodies of 1,200 Lebanese civilians, nearly 400 of them children under the age of 13, sacrificed by Hezbollah to secure Kantar’s return. Add to that the 4,400 wounded civilians, of whom almost 700 are permanently disabled. Add to that those killed and wounded, most of them children, by the cluster bombs still littering large swaths of South Lebanon. Add to that the billions of dollars in destroyed homes, infrastructure and livelihoods.

In the final tally, Kantar – whose alleged taste for violence far exceeds the remit of the typical heroic freedom fighter – is a very expensive man. For make no mistake, his release is the sole profit weighed against the thousands of Lebanese dead and wounded. The four other Lebanese prisoners to be released were themselves captured on his account during the July War, and the number and names of the Palestinians to be freed are entirely at Israel’s discretion.

So Kantar will be freed, and Hezbollah’s word is once again proven to be Lebanon’s bond. We hope and pray that any Lebanese prisoners still held in Israeli jails come at a cheaper price in the future. If each is as expensive as Mr. Kantar has been, they may find themselves heroically repatriated to a desolate wasteland.