Hezbollah claimed on Sunday night that it had foiled an additional IDF attempt to land in the village of Nabi Chit in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, where searches were conducted over the weekend for items related to missing IAF navigator Ron Arad.
According to Hezbollah's statement, 15 helicopters arrived from the direction of the Syrian border and attempted to land near the village. It claimed that there was an exchange of fire and that it was able to prevent the landing.
On Friday, the IDF carried out ground operations in Lebanon to search for items related to Arad in the village, but did not find anything, according to a military statement released at the time.
Reports from Lebanese news outlet An-Nahar said that Israeli troops were seen entering a cemetery in the village, where they were spotted by Hezbollah terrorists, who began exchanging fire with the soldiers.
According to An-Nahar, it is suspected that the cemetery in Nabi Chit has some connection to Arad’s disappearance.
IDF confirms raid, denies Hezbollah clashes
The IDF confirmed the operation but said there had been no clashes with Hezbollah gunmen, and no fire was directed at the soldiers.
"Our heroic fighters set out last night on a special operation to locate and return home the navigator Ron Arad, who fell into captivity in Lebanon nearly 40 years ago," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said about the operation.
"The operation last night did not yield the findings we were looking for, but the commitment of the State of Israel and my own commitment to complete all the missions regarding our captives and missing is absolute and constant. So it has been, and so it shall be,” he added.
Goldie Katz contributed to this report.