Copyright 2002 Associated Press
Associated Press
April 4, 2002
HEADLINE: Court document: Ron Arad had operation in Lebanese hospital
BYLINE: The Associated Press
In the first indication in years that Ron Arad may still be alive,
an alleged Israeli spy has provided information that the missing
Israeli airman was operated on in a hospital, court documents show.
The reference to Arad, whose warplane was downed over Lebanon in
1986, came in a charge sheet demanding the death penalty for six
Lebanese who are in military custody for allegedly spying for
Israel.
Beirut newspapers published the full text of the charge sheet
yesterday.
The charge sheet claimed that one of the alleged spies, Imad Hussein
al-Rizz, who worked at the Middle East Hospital in south Beirut, had
received information from a doctor at the same hospital that Arad
was alive and had been operated on at Al-Ahly Hospital in eastern
Lebanon.
Al-Rizz also allegedly learned that Arad had been transferred to the
nearby Baalbek Hospital. Baalbek is a Hezbollah guerrilla
stronghold.
Al-Rizz traveled to Italy in February and passed on the information
to an Israeli intelligence contact, receiving $3,000 cash in return,
the charges allege.
It was not clear when Arad was allegedly operated on or transferred
or what surgery was performed. But the claims marked the first time
in years that specific information has been divulged about the
Israeli airman whose plane went down in southern Lebanon in October
1986 when a bomb on his jet went off prematurely. The pilot was
rescued in a daring operation, but Arad was captured by Lebanese
guerrillas, who reportedly gave him to Iranian agents.
The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas, Sheik Hassan
Nasrallah, has said he has no details on Arad's whereabouts. He has
previously promised to try to uncover Arad's fate so that Hezbollah
could trade him for Lebanese and other Arab prisoners in Israeli
jails.
The charge sheet names the alleged members of the Israeli spy ring,
which includes Hassan Hashem, a former prominent official of the
Syrian-backed Shiite Muslim Amal militia.