A growing body of evidence from Lebanese security and judicial investigations is strengthening suspicions that Israel’s Mossad intelligence service orchestrated the luring and abduction of retired General Security captain Ahmed Shukr, whose disappearance nearly two weeks ago has raised alarm within Lebanon’s security establishment.
As investigations led by the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces progress, officials describe what they consider to be high-quality findings, firmly placing the case in the category of a coordinated intelligence operation.
Beyond initial suspicions
Search efforts have so far failed to uncover any trace of Shukr on Lebanese territory. A senior Lebanese judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that “all the evidence and data collected so far point to the hypothesis of Shukr’s abduction.”
He added that investigators have “moved beyond the stage of initial suspicions and entered an in-depth analysis of the luring process, communications patterns, and field developments before and after the moment of his disappearance.”
The case is linked to suspicions over Shukr’s connection to the long-unresolved file of the disappearance of Israeli air force pilot Ron Arad in southern Lebanon in 1986, he remarked.
Key leads
Among the most significant leads bolstering this hypothesis, the judicial source said, is “precise monitoring of internal and external communications involving Shukr in the hours and days before he was lured to the Kark area near the city of Zahle in the Bekaa Valley, where he disappeared under circumstances still under investigation.”
The data revealed an unusual pattern suggesting “tight, cross-border coordination.”
Shukr belongs to the family of Fuad Shukr, a Hezbollah leader who was assassinated by Israel on July 30, 2024, in an airstrike on a building in the Haret Hreik area of Beirut’s southern suburbs.
However, Abdul Salam Shukr, Ahmed's brother, rejected any attempt to link them closely to Fuad Shukr. “No one in the town even knew Fuad Shukr,” he said.
“Since the early 1980s, he left the town and never returned, and he was distant from his relatives.”
He stressed that Ahmed Shukr, since retiring from military service, “never left the Bekaa. He stayed at home and played cards with his friends at night.”
Carefully planned operation
In a development described as highly significant, the source revealed what was termed an “important” piece of evidence from surveillance cameras.
“CCTV footage captured an image of a car in the Kark area at the time Shukr was lured and disappeared,” the source said. “The same car was seen later that night heading from Beirut toward the road leading to Beirut’s international airport, carrying a Swedish national suspected of direct involvement in the luring and abduction.”
Security agencies later verified the route by which the Swede left Lebanon. According to the judicial source, the man “traveled abroad just hours after the incident, and investigators now have sufficient information about his departure and destination.”
This, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat, is an additional indication of “prior, carefully coordinated planning that goes beyond the capabilities of conventional local networks.”
New development
The abduction of Ahmed Shukr now appears to be one of Lebanon’s most dangerous security cases, given its intelligence dimensions and the broader questions it raises about security breaches and the covert confrontation between Lebanon and Israel.
At the same time, a new development has brought renewed attention to a Lebanese man identified by his initials A.M., who resides in Kinshasa.
He had previously contacted Shukr, asking him to assist people who claimed they wanted to purchase property in the Bekaa, an approach investigators believe was central to the luring operation.
A.M. has since returned from abroad and surrendered himself to the security services.
Accounts differed over why A.M. returned to Beirut after a wanted notice had been issued against him on suspicion of a possible role in the case.
While some information suggested he was pressured by the Lebanese community abroad to return and turn himself in, sources close to the investigation said he offered a completely different account.
According to these sources, A.M. said that he too “fell victim to the same group that targeted and abducted Ahmed Shukr,” and that he came to Lebanon of his own free will “to clear his name and place the information he has at the disposal of the security services.”
Security information indicates that A.M. arrived in Beirut on Sunday evening and was initially questioned by General Security before being handed over to the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces, at the order of Public Prosecutor Judge Jamal al-Hajjar, who is personally overseeing the investigation due to the case’s sensitivity and complexity.
Findings expected within days
Sources said the initial questioning of A.M. is expected to be completed within a maximum of three days, after which the results of the investigation will be announced, including whether his account aligns with the technical data and evidence already in the possession of security agencies.
Earlier, Asharq Al-Awsat sources had revealed that the missing officer is the brother of Hassan Shukr, a fighter who was part of the group involved in the capture of Ron Arad after his aircraft was shot down over southern Lebanon on October 16, 1986.
Responding to this, Ahmed Shukr’s brother said: “Hassan joined military service in 1979, which means he was a state employee when Arad disappeared in 1986. It is well known that state employees do not engage in political parties.”
