Mossad Kidnapped Iranian Generals in Bid to Find Missing Navigator Ron Arad

Dramatic details have emerged regarding Israeli intelligence operations, particularly by the Mossad, aimed at uncovering the fate of captured navigator Ron Arad. A New York Times investigation, based on interviews with dozens of senior officials from the US, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria, reveals two daring operations to abduct high-ranking Iranian generals over the past two decades.

The first operation, which occurred in December 2006, involved the disappearance of Ali-Reza Askari, Iran's former deputy defense minister, who was stationed in Lebanon. Former US officials revealed that Mossad agents drugged Askari in his Istanbul hotel room, abducted him, and transferred him to a yacht. He was interrogated for weeks about Arad's whereabouts, but upon realizing he had no information, the Mossad agents killed him and disposed of his body in the Black Sea. An Iranian investigation at the time reportedly found the abductors' vehicle abandoned near the coast.

A second, more elaborate operation took place in Damascus in 2021. The target was Abdullah Sabri, a senior Quds Force general sent to Lebanon in 2004 to assist in searching for Arad's remains as part of a prisoner exchange mediation. Sabri was abducted during his morning run by operatives disguised as porters, who forced him into a refrigerator box and transported him in a vehicle with forged documents. He was subjected to prolonged interrogation and torture, with his captors solely focused on the Arad case. Weeks later, after Tehran and his family believed him dead, the Mossad released him on a Johannesburg street, leaving him with cash and the local Iranian embassy's phone number.

According to the report, the failure of the Sabri operation led to a significant shift in Israeli intelligence thinking. For years, the prevailing assumption was that Arad had been transferred to Iran. This belief was based on questionable testimonies, including that of an Iranian doctor in 1992 and statements by Mustafa Dirani in 1994. Israel had exerted considerable international pressure on Tehran and dismissed a secret report from then-Iranian President Rafsanjani suggesting Arad had died and been buried in Lebanon in 1988. Dissenting opinions within the security establishment, such as those from former Shin Bet chief Yuvval Diskin and retired Lt. Col. Avi Kalo, reportedly faced resistance.

However, when General Sabri, a key figure in Iran's Lebanon operations, also proved to have no knowledge of Arad's fate in Iranian or Hezbollah custody, the intelligence community began to reconsider. Sources close to former Mossad chief Dadi Barnea indicated that he recognized the decades of intelligence work might have been fundamentally flawed and ordered a reevaluation of all collected data.

This realization shifted focus to Lebanon, specifically the village of Nabi Sheet, Arad's last known location. In December 2025, Ahmed Shukar, a retired Lebanese security officer involved in Arad's guard in 1988, disappeared from his home, with Lebanese sources suspecting Israeli abduction. The current leading assessment in Israel is that Arad was executed in Lebanon in retaliation for the death of Shukar's brother in a clash with the IDF. In March 2026, the IDF raided Nabi Sheet, excavating a grave in the local cemetery in an unsuccessful attempt to find Arad's remains. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated at the time that Israeli forces conducted a special operation to locate and return the navigator. The raid resulted in dozens of Lebanese casualties but yielded no findings, while searches in Lebanon continue.