“Israel” Assumes Ron Arad Still Alive Till Proven Otherwise

Source: almanar.com.lb, 07-09-2009

"Israel" is still searching for missing "Israel" Air Force navigator Ron Arad and working on the assumption that he is alive, the Prime Minister's Office announced on Sunday.

The announcement came in response to a classified Military Intelligence report, which claimed Arad had remained alive at least nine years after his plane went down over Lebanon in 1986. According to the report, Arad most likely died in Lebanon sometime in the mid-1990s.

"Efforts to shed light on Ron Arad's fate are constantly continuing," the PMO said in response to the report. "We are working on the assumption that the captive navigator is still alive."

The Military Intelligence claimed in its report that Arad was transferred to Iran and held by Revolutionary Guards there for years after his plane was shot down.

In 1994, said the report, the "Israeli" occupation forces "kidnapped Mustafa Dirani, the Hizbullah commander who had held Arad captive in Lebanon."

"The Iranians", said the report, "worried that that abduction would shed light on their involvement in the affair, and therefore returned Arad to Lebanon where he remained in captivity until the mid-1990s." The Military Intelligence believes he died then from complications of an illness.

Arad's family said in response to the report that they believed he was still alive and deserved to know the outcome of his fate.