Source to Asharq Al-Awsat: Investigators suspect Israeli abduction in disappearance of retired security officer Ahmad Shukr

Lebanese judicial authorities are increasingly leaning toward the possibility that Israel was behind the disappearance of a retired General Security officer a week ago, following what they describe as an intelligence-style luring operation, a senior Lebanese judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The source said investigations suggest the case may be linked to suspicions surrounding the 1986 disappearance of Israeli air force navigator Ron Arad in South Lebanon. This file has long carried intelligence sensitivities.

According to the source, the Information Branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) has intensified its inquiries since the disappearance of retired Capt. Ahmad Shukr was reported in the Bekaa region about a week ago. 

Investigators have been reviewing surveillance camera footage and analyzing telecommunications data, which led them to preliminary leads indicating that Shukr was subjected to a carefully planned entrapment operation.

The judicial source said the operation appears to have begun in Shukr's hometown of Nabi Chit in northern Bekaa, before his trail went cold at a location very close to the city of Zahle. Security efforts are now focused on that area to determine his fate.
 
With conflicting accounts emerging about the circumstances surrounding Shukr's disappearance, the hypothesis of Israeli involvement has gained ground over other explanations, based on what the source described as initial findings from the ongoing investigation.

Strengthening the security and intelligence angle are suspicions that non-Lebanese individuals allegedly connected to the incident are involved. 

The source said early investigative information and surveillance indicate that the luring operation was carried out by two Swedish nationals, one of whom is of Lebanese origin. The two reportedly arrived in Lebanon via Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport just two days before the incident.

One of the two individuals left Lebanon through the airport on the same day Shukr disappeared, a detail that investigators view as raising serious questions about his potential role. The second individual, also of Lebanese origin, is believed to have participated in the operation and is still thought to be inside Lebanon. Records from airport, land, and sea crossings show no evidence that he has left the country, unless he did so illegally.

The judicial source did not rule out the involvement of additional individuals inside Lebanon, suggesting that others may have participated in monitoring Shukr and preparing the conditions that led to his disappearance.