Israeli airmans remains returned

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 13 (UPI) -- Bones said to be that of Israeli airman Ron Arad, missing since 1986, have been transferred to Israel for examiniation.

Israel's Ha'aretz news service quoted Arab news reports that members of Hezbollah had found Arad's grave in Lebanon and returned them as part of a prisoner exchange.

Israeli officials said they had not received any new information about Arad, whose plane was shot down over Lebanon.

"To the best of our knowledge, the Germans, who have been mediating in this matter, have also received no information or details that would attest to Ron Arad's fate," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's communications adviser, Assi Shariv, said Wednesday night

If Arad's remains are positively identified, the second phase of the POW exchange agreement will begin.

The second phase will include Israel's release of Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar. Kuntar was jailed for his involvement in a 1974 terror attack in northern Israel that left four Israelis dead.

In a later phase of the exchange, Israel will release Israeli-Arab prisoners and provide further details on the fate of the four Iranian diplomats who disappeared in Lebanon in 1982.