Agents from Israel’s Mossad agency abducted an Iranian general recently during an operation to locate a captured Israeli serviceman held in captivity since the 1980s, according to a report released Tuesday.
Rai al-Youm, a London-based Arabic news outlet reported Tuesday afternoon that the Mossad operation revealed by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett aimed at locating the lost Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad had included a daring abduction and questioning of an Iranian general.
On Monday, Bennett said the Mossad had carried out “a successful operation” last month, "bringing the information to Knesset members,” though Mossad chief David Barnea said that the Mossad had failed to determine Arad’s whereabouts.
According to the Rai al-Youm report Tuesday, as part of last month’s operation, the Mossad captured an Iranian general in Syria and transferred him to an unnamed African country where he was interrogated. The Mossad agents involved later released the general.
The report claimed that Iran became aware of the Israeli operation after it was completed, and is believed to have obtained details on how it was undertaken.
A recent attempt by Iranian-linked operatives to target Israelis in Cyprus, the report added, may be part of a bid by Tehran to retaliate for the general’s abduction.
Ron Arad, a navigator onboard an IAF F-4 Phantom fighter jet during the First Lebanon War, was captured in October 1986, after the aircraft was damaged by a prematurely detonated bomb during an operation over Lebanon.
While Arad’s fate remains unknown and he is officially listed as missing, an IDF report in 2016 suggested Arad was likely killed two years after his capture, in 1988.
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