The Ron Arad Connection
Lebanese Ex-Officer Ahmad Shukor Disappears, Allegedly Kidnapped by Israel
Retired Lebanese officer Captain Ahmad Shukor has vanished in the Bekaa Valley, with Lebanese sources telling Saudi media he may have been abducted by Israel in a covert operation tied to the 1986 kidnapping of Israeli navigator Ron Arad.
Investigations into the disappearance of retired Lebanese General Security officer Captain Ahmad Shukor, who went missing five days ago in the Bekaa Valley, suggest he may have been abducted by Israel in connection with a “covert intelligence operation,” according to a Lebanese judicial source cited by Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. The operation is reportedly linked to suspicions of Shukor’s involvement in the 1986 abduction of Israeli navigator Ron Arad in southern Lebanon.
The source said Lebanese security forces have intensified their investigations since Shukor’s disappearance. “Authorities have reviewed surveillance footage and analyzed communications data, revealing initial clues pointing to a carefully planned trap that began in his hometown of Nabi Shabut in northern Bekaa before his trail disappeared near Zahle in central Lebanon, where search efforts are now concentrated,” the source added.
The judicial official overseeing the preliminary investigation noted that intelligence teams have “found no material or technological evidence placing Shukor within Lebanese territory, reinforcing the theory that he was sedated and kidnapped to Israel, either via a complex aerial operation or by sea through a boat departing from Lebanese shores, similar to the November 2 abduction of Navy Captain Emad Amahaz in northern Lebanon last year.”
Family-related sources told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that the missing retired officer is the brother of Hassan Shukor, a Hezbollah operative involved in the May 22, 1988 “Law and Order” operation in the village of Meisson in the Bekaa Valley, during which Israeli forces raided Hezbollah bases.
According to the Saudi report, Hassan Shukor “was a fighter in the group led by Mustafa Dirani that participated in the capture of Israeli navigator Ron Arad in 1986. The group transferred him to a relative’s home in the village of Nabi Sheet before moving him to an unknown location, after which his whereabouts disappeared.”