BEIRUT: Three relatives of South Lebanon Army militia officer Aql Hashem crossed from Israel into Lebanon Tuesday, the National News Agency reported.

Hashem, who was assassinated by Hezbollah in 2000, was second in command in the SLA, an Israeli-allied militia that operated in Lebanon during the Civil War.

The NNA reported that Hashem’s wife Layla Kassab, daughter Chantal and son Geryes were handed over to the Lebanese authorities after the International Red Cross facilitated their return at the Naqoura gate.

Sources told The Daily Star that Hashem’s second daughter resides in Lebanon, and his other son is in France.

When Israel pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, thousands of SLA members, as well as their families and neighbors, fled across the border.

Approximately 2,000 people have returned, with family members and neighbors of fighters usually paying a fine after interrogation.

SLA members are likely to be arrested at the border and tried.