Ron Arad (pilot)

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Ron Arad (Hebrew: רון ארד) (born May 5, 1958) is an Israeli Air Force weapon systems officer (WSO) who is officially classified as missing in action.

Lieutenant Colonel Arad was an F-4 Phantom WSO on a mission to attack PLO targets near Sidon, in Lebanon, on October 16, 1986. Apparently a bomb dropped by the jet exploded prematurely in the air causing damage to the aircraft that forced Arad and the pilot to eject. The pilot was rescued a few hours later, but Arad was captured by the Lebanese Shi'ite militia Amal.

Arad was brought to Beirut and held by the then head of security of Amal, Mustafa Dirani. The leader of the Amal Militia, Nabih Berri, announced that he was holding Arad, and proposed an exchange for Shiite and Lebanese prisoners held in Israel.

In 1987, some letters from Arad were received. The Israeli government negotiated for his release, but talks failed in 1988. There are inconclusive indications that Arad was then "sold" to Iran. After this time, credible information about Arad has been hard to discover, though unsubstantiated claims of new information are made regularly.

In an effort to bring about his release, Israel captured Sheik Abdul-Karim Obeid, a member of the Lebanese Hezbollah, in 1989 and Mustafa Dirani in 1994. The Israeli government claimed they were being held in order to find out information about Arad. Both were released in 2004 as part of a POW swap for Elchanan Tenenbaum.

On December 2003, an organization seeking information about Ron has issued a reward of 10 million dollars to anyone who brings such information.

In 2006, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, publicly stated that Hezbollah believed Arad to be dead and his remains lost. This marked the first time they have publicly acknowledged their lack of knowledge about his whereabouts.

On August 28, 2006, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation aired new footage of Arad. The footage is believed to have been made in 1988 and does not solve the fate of Arad.

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