Israeli Air Force planes today attacked terrorist concentrations at Naher el Bared near Tripoli in north Lebanon. All Israeli planes returned safely to their base, an army spokesman said. Naher el Bared is used as a training base and is the site from which terrorist gangs launch attacks against Israel. The Israeli action was in line with Israel’s policy of hitting terrorist bases any where. any time and by any means.
Meanwhile, the discovery of an EI Fatah cell in Israel and the arrest of eight Israeli Arabs suspected of membership in it, has caused concern in security circles and in the local Arab community. Several of the detainees have already confessed to a series of terrorist acts, all of which failed. But the authorities are worried more about the implications of a terrorist band within Israel’s Arab population.
The ring leader was identified as Mounir Shehadeh, 25, a laborer from Nazareth who was reportedly trained in Iraq. Other members included two chemistry teachers who apparently prepared bombs and incendiary devices and a 22-year-old woman from Faradis village near Zichron Yaacov which has had good relations with its Jewish neighbors since the pre-Statehood era. Three of the suspects were arrested as they prepared to go abroad, allegedly to contact EI Fatah agents.
Members of the gang confessed to planting a bomb near the main synagogue in Haifa last month. It was safely dismantled by police. They admitted throwing incendiary bombs at Egged buses but the bombs failed to detonate. They also failed in two planned ambushes when the vehicles they had targeted did not appear. An attempt to stab an Israeli Arab they thought to be a collaborator was foiled.
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.
