Reports of mysterious Mossad operation to find Israeli airman confirmed

Israel prime minster tells Knesset of bold' mission concerned with fate of missing navigator Lt Col Ron Arad

The Israeli spy agency, the Mossad, launched a complex intelligence operation last month to find information on the whereabouts and fate of an Israeli airman who was shot down over southern Lebanon in 1986.

The existence of the operation to find Lt Col Ron Arad, a navigator on an Israeli jet whose plane went down during a bombing raid, was confirmed by the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, who told the country's parliament on Monday that he could share no more details of the courageous mission".