Hizbullah has reportedly informed Israel that its missing airman Ron Arad probably passed away while trying to escape to Israel in 1988, two years after he was seized in Lebanon.

The daily Maariv said Hizbullah has provided Israel with a confidential report on Arad's whereabouts.

The report was part of the exchange deal worked out between Hizbullah and the Jewish state in July.

The front-paged report said Arad "escaped the cell in which he was held on the evening of May 4-5 1988 and headed south towards what was then known as the (Israeli-occupied) security zone."

"He was in a remote mountainous area and it is possible that he collapsed … and could not proceed, or he was wounded or suffered from fractures, bleeding, fever or poisoning or fell off a high cliff, was attacked by a beast or walked into a mine field," the Hizbullah report allegedly said.

The newspaper said the report denied charges that Arad is held either by Hizbullah or Iran.