Ron Arad (רוֹן אָרָד; born 5 May 1958), was an Israeli Air Force weapon systems officer (WSO) who has officially been classified as missing in action since October 1986.
Arad was lost on a mission over Lebanon and is believed to have been captured by the Shiite group Amal and later handed over to Hezbollah.
Arad was born on 5 May 1958 in Hod HaSharon, Israel.
He studied in the Boarding Command School in Tel Aviv.
1978
Arad began his military service in the Israel Defense Forces in 1978 and graduated from the IAF flight course in 1979 as a combat navigator.
1985
In October 1985, Arad began studying chemical engineering at the Technion in Haifa.
Arad was married to Tami and is father to a daughter, Yuval.
1986
On 16 October 1986, Arad and pilot Yishai Aviram were on a mission to attack PLO targets around Maghdouche in Southern Lebanon.
A bomb dropped by their F-4 Phantom II apparently exploded prematurely, causing damage to the aircraft and forcing both crewmen to eject.
Aviram was located by an Israeli Bell AH-1 Cobra a few hours later, and escaped by clinging to one of its landing skids as it flew away while under heavy enemy fire, but Arad was captured by the Lebanese Amal.
Arad was taken to Beirut where he was held by then-head of security of Amal, Mustafa Dirani.
Amal head Nabih Berri announced that he was holding Arad, and proposed an exchange for Shiite and Lebanese prisoners held in Israel.
1987
In 1987, three letters in Arad's handwriting and two photos of a bearded Arad were received, proving Arad was alive.
1988
The Israeli government negotiated for his release, but talks failed in 1988.
After this time, credible information about Arad has been hard to obtain, though unsubstantiated claims of new information are made regularly.
During his interrogation by IDF officers, Dirani reportedly disclosed that on 4 May 1988, Arad was turned over first to a Hezbollah unit and then to Iranian Revolutionary Guards who were in Lebanon at the time aiding Hezbollah guerrillas, after which he may have been taken to Iran.
But neither Iran nor any guerrilla group ever offered any useful information about Arad's fate.
In early 1988, Arad was hidden in the village of Al-Nabi Shayth, where he was guarded by the Shukur clan.
On May 5, 1988, his captors fled the area following Israeli bombing attacks.
Arad was left behind, hidden in the bushes, and when the Shukur clan returned the next morning, they found that their prisoner had disappeared.
Dirani then contacted a leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Both Dirani and Hezbollah later suspected that Arad had been picked up by Revolutionary Guard personnel and taken to Iran.
1989
To gain further insight on his whereabouts, Israeli commandos captured Hezbollah member Abdel Karim Obeid in 1989, and Mustafa Dirani in 1994.
Both men were taken from their homes.
The Obeid kidnapping led to the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 638, which condemned all hostage takings by all sides.
The Israeli government claimed it was holding the men in order to find out information about Arad.
1990
The commission claimed that he was taken to Tehran in 1990, where he was held in strict secrecy and in complete isolation.
1993
The Farkash Commission concluded that Arad had died sometime between 1993 and 1997, with no signs of life received since 1995.
According to the report, Arad had been captured by the Amal Movement, which openly demanded ransom money, arms, and a prisoner exchange.
He was then abducted by Mustafa Dirani, then Amal's head of security, and was taken to the Beqaa Valley, where he was kept in hiding.
When Dirani left Amal and defected to Hezbollah, he transferred Arad to Hezbollah custody.
1994
Arad was transferred back to Lebanon following the capture of Mustafa Dirani in a 1994 Israeli commando raid, after the Iranians feared that Dirani would implicate them.
Arad was held at a Revolutionary Guard facility in Lebanon.
The report stated that Arad died after he became gravely ill and was refused medical treatment, and that he was buried by militiamen in the Beqaa Valley.
2003
In 2003, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon revealed that an intelligence agent had been killed during efforts to rescue Arad.
In December 2003, an organization seeking information about Arad issued a reward of $10 million to anyone coming forward with such information.
2004
Karim-Obeid and Dirani were released in 2004 as part of a prisoner swap.
No information on Arad's fate was released after the swap.
In 2004, Aman, the IDF's military intelligence branch, formed a secret commission to investigate Arad's fate, headed by Major-General Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash.
The investigation was based on interrogation transcripts and polygraph tests of Mustafa Dirani, intercepted messages, and intelligence gathered by Mossad and the IDF, including information from a 2004 Hezbollah investigation.
