The 28-year-old Mrs. Arad said she believes her husband was eventually transferred to another faction of the pro-Iranian militias in Lebanon before being handed over to Iranians.

There was press speculation about such an agreement when the French hostages were freed by pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim militias in Lebanon.

Two More Kidnappings Both brothers are tied to the Party of God, a militant pro-Iranian militia in Lebanon.

It means telling Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian Lebanese Shiite militia, that it has learned only one thing - how to drive the Israelis out of Lebanon.

The bombings raised concern that the Israelis might retaliate, as they have in the past, with attacks on pro-Iranian militias in southern Lebanon or against Iran itself.

They draw on their experience in Lebanon, where Iranians armed and financed the large pro-Iranian Shiite militia of the Party of God.

Heavily armed and tenacious fighters from the militant pro-Iranian militias can be a tough adversary to take on, even for Syrian soldiers.

The eight Americans still held in Lebanon are believed to be in the hands of pro-Iranian Shiite militias.

At the center of any bargain would have to be the hostage-takers themselves, shadowy groups of pro-Iranian militias operating in the forbidden streets of Beirut.

Indications of a moderate Iranian response also came from the religious leader of the pro-Iranian militia in Beirut, Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah.