Israel today released two vessels captured by the coast guard, one a Lebanese schooner with two Lebanese and four Syrians aboard, intercepted in Israeli waters while en route from Gazato Lehanon, and the other fishing boat with four Arabs aboard found in Israeli waters off Ashkelon. The two Lebanese and the four Arabs aboard the fishing vessel were released with the boats but Israel was holding the four Syrians pending the release of Israelis being held by Syria.
The schooner was initially intercepted by an Israeli submarine and was towed by a cutter into Haifa port where its crew was held for questioning. Later the same day, radar picked up the presence of a fishing vessel in Israeli territorial waters off Ashkelon and that boat also was towed to Haifa.
Officials here said that Israel would return the four Syrian seamen to Syria only if the Syrians returned three Israelis seized by the Syrians on Lake Tiberias last July and still held despite repeated Israeli protests and the intervention of United Nations Secretary General U Thant.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
