Gen. Mordechai Gur, former Chief of Staff of Israel’s armed forces, said yesterday that Israel should avoid by all means a confrontation with Syrian armed forces in Lebanon. Gur, who appeared on a television interview, was referring to the deaths of three Syrian soldiers and the wounding of two others during an Israeli attack on terrorist positions in south Lebanon last Thursday night.
Gur said it was possible to engage in anti-terrorist operations in Lebanon without complicating the situation with Syria. He said he doubted that the Israeli forces which took part in Thursday operation had intended to make contact with the Syrians. “In the future, we shall simply have to be more careful bath in the selection of targets and the measures taken in connection with the operation,” Gur said.
Israel expressed regret yesterday over the Syrian casualties and stressed that the Syrian soldiers has been outside the area where the Syrian army — the Arab peacekeeping force in Lebanon — normally operates when they were hit. Deputy Defense Minister Mordechai Zipori said “Israel wants to avoid a conflict with its neighbors. Our encounter is with the terrorists only.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli soldier killed in Thursdays’ action was buried at the military cemetery in Holon yesterday afternoon. He was Nachman Zion 20 a corporal, who was fatally wounded when his unit stormed a terrorist outpost. Thousands attended the funeral in support of the bereaved family whose two other sons died ten years ago of kidney disease. Nachman was killed only a month before he was scheduled to leave his active unit and complete his military service as a member of the Nahal para-military unit at Kibbutz Nitzanim.
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.
