Copyright 1990
The Jerusalem Post

May 14, 1990, Monday

HEADLINE: ISRAEL KIDNAPPED TOP HIZBULLAH MAN BEFORE OBEID, SAYS UK PAPER

BYLINE: By DOUGLAS DAVIS, Jerusalem Post Correspondent

HIGHLIGHT:
LONDON - Israel kidnapped a top-level Hizbullah official to barter for the release of three Israeli servicemen in Lebanon before launching the operation that led to the capture of Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid, the Observer weekly newspaper reported here yesterday.

BODY:

LONDON - Israel kidnapped a top-level Hizbullah official to barter for the release of three Israeli servicemen in Lebanon before launching the operation that led to the capture of Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid, the Observer weekly newspaper reported here yesterday.

The captured official, who is still being held in Israel, has been named as Daud Qashfi, leader of the Believing Front, one of the organizations operating under the Hizbullah umbrella.

Only when his capture evoked no reaction from Lebanon was the decision taken to capture Obeid: "Judging from the outcry that followed, Obeid's kidnapping was equivalent to hitting the bull's-eye," noted the Observer. According to the newspaper, Israeli forces had also intended capturing a second man, Mustafa Dirani, when they went after Qashfi. However, Dirani, who is believed to have personal custody of Ron Arad, the Israeli navigator shot down over South Lebanon in 1986, managed to evade the Israeli snatch team.

When Arad was captured, Dirani was working in Beirut as intelligence chief of the mainstream Shi'ite Amal movement.

Shortly afterwards, he defected to Hizbullah, taking Arad with him.