A German intelligence agent has spent the last several weeks on a United Nations mission trying to negotiate an exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hezbollah, German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Sunday.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan handed a German intelligence analyst from the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) the assignment after a meeting in early September, the magazine said. The German government declined comment on the report.

The BND analyst had worked on two previous exchanges of prisoners and is respected by both sides, Der Spiegel said. It added, however, the chances of success were still unclear because of the hardened positions on both sides.

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The UN has so far only said it had appointed a "facilitator" to work towards the release of two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah in July.

In September, Annan said both sides had agreed to his appointment and that the envoy's identity would remain secret.

The unconditional release of the soldiers, whose seizure by the Hezbollah guerrilla group in a cross-border raid on July 12 sparked a 34-day war, is called for in the preamble to a UN Security Council resolution that brought about a ceasefire.

Lebanon has said the soldiers would not be released unless Israel was prepared to discuss a prisoner swap.