This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.Ron Arad (Hebrew: 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.

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.

Amal head Nabih Berri announced that he was holding Arad, and proposed an exchange for Shiite and Lebanese prisoners held in Israel.

To gain further insight on his whereabouts, Israeli commandos captured Hezbollah member Abdel Karim Obeid in 1989, and Mustafa Dirani in 1994.

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.

Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu refused to publish the results, and military censors only released the findings after Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman threatened to file a complaint with the Supreme Court.

After the report became public, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that Israel would continue to work under the assumption that Arad was alive, unless there was "conclusive evidence" that he was dead.

On 29 June 2008, United Nations negotiator Gerhard Konrad informed the Israeli government that according to Hezbollah, Arad had been killed during an escape attempt in 1988.

[11] In a news conference on 2 July 2008, held by Hassan Nasrallah, he stated that his group conducted a detailed investigation into the fate of the missing Israeli navigator.

Nasrallah declined to indicate the findings of the investigation, but stated that a written report was handed to the United Nations representative mediating between the Lebanese group and the Israelis.

[12] In February 2016, a Lebanese man, Moufid Kuntar, claimed in court that Arad had been tortured to death while being interrogated in 1988 and was buried in a forest near Mount Lebanon.

[13] In October 2016, news reports revealed that a joint investigation carried out by Mossad and IDF Military Intelligence, based on new information received over the previous two years, concluded that Arad had died in 1988.

[14] In October 2021, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett revealed that Mossad kidnapped an Iranian general in Syria to uncover information on the whereabouts of Ron Arad.