Israeli commandos hunt for clues in four-decade Ron Arad mystery

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the mission reflected Israel’s enduring commitment to bring home its missing personnel.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

Israeli commandos carried out a rare deep raid in eastern Lebanon overnight in an attempt to locate the remains of missing Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad, Israel confirmed on Saturday.

Arad disappeared nearly four decades ago after his aircraft was shot down during a mission over Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces said the helicopter-borne special forces operation took place near the village of Nabi Chit in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

The raid was supported by heavy Israeli airstrikes intended to isolate the area while troops searched for possible items connected to Arad.

The military said the mission did not produce the evidence investigators hoped to find.

“As part of IDF operations in Lebanon, IDF special forces operated last night in an attempt to locate artifacts related to the missing navigator,” the military said in a statement.

“No artifacts related to him were found at the search scene.”

However, the IDF said the operation allowed investigators to rule out one possible lead in the decades-long effort to determine Arad’s fate.

Israeli officials have repeatedly said the country will continue pursuing information about soldiers listed as missing in action.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the mission reflected Israel’s enduring commitment to bring home its missing personnel.

“Our heroic fighters set out last night on a special operation to locate and return home the navigator Ron Arad, who fell into captivity in Lebanon nearly 40 years ago,” Netanyahu said in a statement translated from Hebrew.

“For many years we have been pursuing that goal relentlessly,” he added.

“The operation last night did not yield the findings we were looking for, but the commitment of the State of Israel and my own commitment to complete all the missions regarding our captives and missing is absolute and constant. So it has been and so it shall be.”

According to the Israeli military, troops operated on the ground while Israeli aircraft struck surrounding areas to prevent anyone from approaching the forces.

The IDF said anyone who attempted to approach the commandos during the operation was targeted.

Lebanese officials reported at least 41 people were killed in the strikes and dozens more were wounded. The Israeli military said the casualties were likely the result of the accompanying airstrikes.

It also emphasized that no Israeli troops were injured and rejected claims by Hezbollah that there had been clashes with its fighters.

Arad disappeared on October 16, 1986, when the F-4 Phantom aircraft he was navigating was shot down near the Lebanese city of Sidon.

After parachuting safely from the aircraft, he was reportedly captured by the Shiite Amal movement. He was later believed to have been transferred to Iranian or Hezbollah custody.

Despite decades of intelligence efforts and diplomatic attempts to obtain information, Israel has never recovered his remains and his fate remains uncertain, though he is widely presumed dead.

Arad’s widow, Tami, said after the announcement that the family does not support operations that could endanger Israeli soldiers.

“Our desire to know what happened to Ron stops as soon as there is risk to IDF soldiers,” she said in a statement. “In our eyes, the sanctity of life comes before the commitment to return the remains of a fighter for burial.”

Arad, who was born in 1958, left behind his wife and their daughter Yuval, who was 15 months old when he disappeared.