The British newspaper "The Independent" today (Sunday) revealed new information about the Iranian commander who, according to foreign publications, was abducted by the Mossad in order to obtain information about the fate of the Israeli navigator Ron Arad.
The Iranian general who was reported abducted first arrived in Lebanon following the first Lebanon war in 1982, where he was in charge of training groups of fighters who later became the terrorist organization Hezbollah, the British-language Arabic newspaper reported over the weekend based on information from Iranian sources.
The publication, which describes the Iranian general, has no confirmation from other sources.
According to the report, the commander known as "Sabri" returned to Iran and served in the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, the arm in charge of regional activity.
Sabri, it was alleged, practically operated in Lebanon alongside General Qassem Suleimani, the former commander of the U.S.-led force.
Since the civil war in Syria in 2011 that led to half a million deaths, Iran has responded to the Assad regime in every way, including the recruitment of Hezbollah and members of the Revolutionary Guards.
As part of this, Sabri was sent as part of a group of military advisers to work alongside Syrian regime forces in battles with the rebels.
Al-Maza district in Damascus, where the general was abducted, Photo: Wikipedia
The information obtained by the newspaper indicates that the Iranian general chose to live in the al-Mazza area, a neighborhood in the southwestern part of Damascus, due to its proximity to the Iranian embassy in Syria.
Among other things, due to the security measures in the area.
In fact, the Revolutionary Guards official used to exercise and run between his apartment building and the embassy.
According to the report, while performing a sporting activity and being some distance from his home, he approached a van that stopped in the same area.
The report claims that while the senior was passing by the vehicle, Mossad agents got out of it and abducted him, with the plan being to bring him to Israel.
The report on the website also claims that the Mossad managed to bring the general to Tel Aviv, where he was quickly interrogated so as not to allow Iran to take advantage of the operation to escalate against Israel.
Iranian sources claimed that the information was "worthless".
Following this, the senior was transferred to South Africa, where he was released in front of a public telephone booth on Johannesburg Street.
Sabri was given a phone number by the Iranian embassy so that she could take him back to his country.
In the same article, it should be noted that the "Independent" interview with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was included, which ruled out the possibility that Israel abducted an Iranian guerrilla a few months ago.
According to Olmert, it is possible that this is part of a psychological war and for him it is an imaginary story.
The former prime minister also noted that he did not rule out that the publication of the abduction was intended to be a pretext for Iranian operations against Israel.
Portraits of Suleimani in a parade in Iraq,
The report further stated that the reason for his abduction was the role that Israel attributed to him regarding the fate of navigator Ron Arad who was captured or the information he allegedly holds.
This is due to the general activity in Lebanon in 1986, the year in which Arad was captured by the Shiite organization Amal, an organization that preceded Hezbollah.
As you may recall, last week Prime Minister Naftali Bennett revealed in his speech in the Knesset that the Mossad had taken a special action to obtain information about Ron Arad's location.
Subsequently, the abduction and interrogation of an Iranian general to Africa by the Mossad was reported in the Arab media.
All with the aim of obtaining information about the prisoner.
