Israel Completes Action Against Lebanese Terrorist Bases; Heaviest Attack Since 1967

The Israel Army’s action against terrorist bases in southern Lebanese was completed late today and the forces were preparing to evacuate. A military spokesman said the evacuation might not be completed until late tonight or tomorrow morning. He said during the entire operation only seven Israeli soldiers slightly wounded. According to the Israeli account only light resistance was met and no major battles occurred. Israeli forces surrounded six Lebanese villages where curfews were imposed and on-the-spot identity checks made to weed out guerrillas. The villages were Identified as Hibariyeh, Farides, Rashia el Fuhar, Kufr Hamam, Kufr Shuba and El Mari. The operation began before dawn today when 1000 Israeli armored infantry spearheaded by 100 tanks pushed into Lebanon to wipe out guerrilla bases that have been the source of fatal attacks on Israeli border settlements in recent weeks.

Syria sent a flight of MIG-17s to aid Lebanese Army regulars battling the Israelis and lost three of them to Israeli interceptors in a dog-fight over Mt. Hermon. Iraqi artillery based in northern Jordan shelled Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. An Israeli military spokesman belittled their efforts to aid the Lebanese. He said Damascus and Baghdad were trying to create the image of a united Arab front coming to the rescue of their brethren. He said the Iraqis fired a total of 15 shells. The Syrians fired a number of artillery volleys at Israeli positions but their batteries were quickly silenced by Israel Air Force jets. The Syrian air challenge was decisively routed. The Israeli accounts differed from those of the Lebanese who claimed the destruction of five Israeli tanks and seven half tracks. Beirut also claimed that an Israeli Phantom jet was downed by ground fire. Israel denied the claim and said all of its aircraft returned safely to their bases.

The assault on Lebanon was covered by an artillery barrage and jet strikes at guerrilla bases. It was described as Israel’s heaviest attack on guerrilla strongholds in Lebanon and the biggest Israeli ground action since the 1967 war in terms of the number of men and armor employed. It climaxed more than a month of escalating attacks on 22 Israeli border villages by El Fatah guerrillas who have virtually preempted large areas of southern Lebanon. The area of the Israeli sweep-the slopes of Mt. Hermon east of the Hasbani River–has been referred to in foreign press dispatches as “El Fatah land.” An Israeli spokesman said there were 61 incidents in the region during the last 40 days in which seven Israelis were killed and 18 wounded. Katyusha rocket attacks on the Israeli border village of Kiryat Shemona last Wednesday and Saturday killed three civilians.

ISRAELI TROOPS IN LEBANON APPEAL TO VILLAGERS TO HELP DRIVE OUT GUERRILLAS

Israel repeatedly warned Lebanese authorities to halt the terrorist incursions or face serious consequences. Following the deaths at Kiryat Shemona, Deputy Premier Yigal Allon said last week that Israel would no longer warn Lebanon but would act. It was apparently the intention of Israeli leaders to limit today’s assault to guerrilla bases. Troops entering Lebanon distributed pamphlets to villagers appealing to them to help drive out the guerrillas. The leaflets began with an Arabic proverb, “He who sows thorns will not harvest grapes. He who lights fires may be burned.” (According to reports from various news agencies at the United Nations. King Hussein of Jordan called an emergency meeting of his cabinet. Official sources reported that he told the cabinet meeting in Amman that the situation “is very serious” and that these past few days were “similar to those which preceded June 5,1967” which was the beginning of the Six-Day War.)

In action on other fronts Israel said its forces repulsed another Egyptian commando raid across the Suez Canal last night, killing two Egyptian soldiers. There were no Israeli casualties. According to a military spokesman the Egyptian forces retreated across the waterway after the first burst of gunfire, at about 1:30 p.m. local time. An Egyptian artillery barrage was silenced by Israeli jets. Three Arab saboteurs were killed in a clash with an Israeli patrol in the Kasr El Yahud region north of the Dead Sea last night. Large quantities of explosives and arms were seized. The guerrilla gang was reportedly trying to reach Hebron. Iraqi artillery based in northern Jordan opened fire on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights today. Israel announced that Pvt. George Gitovitz, 19, was killed Sunday during an exchange of fire with Egyptian forces across the Suez Canal.