The Saudi newspaper "Asharq Al-Awsat," published in London in Arabic, reported that Lebanese officer Ahmed Shoukr, who was reportedly kidnapped last month due to his involvement in the abduction of Israeli navigator Ron Arad, was captured in a "precise and complex security operation planned and executed by the Israeli Mossad, exploiting security gaps and direct cooperation with a Lebanese operative specifically recruited for this mission." It was further reported that the Lebanese operative, who was arrested, "explicitly admitted meeting Mossad officers in Africa who assigned him several missions, and that he received amounts ranging between $5,000 and $10,000 for each mission."