Israel continued to sent patrols into Lebanon on preventive missions against guerrilla bases today as Beirut was paralyzed by a general strike demanding stronger military measures against the Israeli raids. An Israeli military spokesman said that forces that crossed the border today were carrying out “observation missions” from hilltops overlooking the frontier and were “interfering” with the movements of Arab guerrillas. (Beirut claimed today that a Lebanese lieutenant was killed in a clash with an Israeli patrol 800 yards inside the Lebanese border last night. Israel reported a small clash involving one of its patrols but mentioned no casualties. Israel sent infantry columns and small armored units into Lebanon yesterday and reported skirmishes that lasted as long as five hours. But there was no large-scale invasion as reported by Beirut yesterday. An estimated 3000 strikers marched through the Lebanese capital today shouting criticism at the government for failing to protect the border villages against Israeli attacks. Strikers marched in Sidon, the largest city in southern Lebanon. Schools and shops were shut down all over the country and Beirut Airport was closed for three hours by the strike, which was said to be supported by both left-wing and right-wing factions. An estimated 30,000 Lebanese villagers are reported to have fled the border regions during the past week. But some have apparently remained. Israeli soldiers inside Lebanon reportedly encountered several farmers working their fields. The farmers were left unmolested. A Lebanese woman from Yaron reportedly told an Israeli soldier that the villagers did not want terrorists in their midst but were helpless against them.)
(The Pakistani Mission to the United Nations released a statement today condemning Israel’s “inhuman shelling” of Lebanese border villages Sunday. The statement, originally made by a Foreign Office spokesman in Rawalpindi yesterday, described the alleged shelling as “an act of barbarism.” It made no mention of last Friday’s terrorist bus ambush near the Lebanese border, which took the lives of eight Israeli schoolchildren and four adults. The Pakistani statement said, “Israel has repeatedly been condemned by the world community for reverting to savage tactics of military reprisals.” It warned that the “presumption that an increase in barbarity and frequency of these military attacks will blunt the determination of the Arab people is a dangerous miscalculation.” The Pakistani spokesman expressed confidence that “all peace-loving people will support Lebanon in its just and righteous stand.”)
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.
