Israelis Capture Beaufort Castle

Israel’s heavily armored forces which entered Lebanon yesterday were reported today to have captured several key Palestine Liberation Organization strong points and appeared on the way to achieving their military objectives well ahead of schedule. They were supported by heavy sea and air assaults.

According to the latest reports, the ancient Beaufort Castle was in Israel’s hands and the town of Nabatiya, a major PLO stronghold further north, was captured by Israeli forces after close-quarter street fighting. Israeli forces reportedly captured the port town of Tyre where an estimated 1500 terrorists were based. Lebanon radio reported this afternoon that the port town of Sidon was also under siege by Israeli ground forces, re-enforced by troop landings from the sea.

An army spokesman said this morning that the Israeli operation, code-named “Peace for Galilee,” was proceeding according to plan. Later in the day. Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan told reporters that at the end of the first 24 hours of fighting, Israeli forces had reached objectives which the planners of the operation thought it would take much longer to achieve.

The army acknowledged that the Beaufort Castle was captured only after bitter hand-to-hand fighting. No mention has been made yet of casualties sustained by either the Israeli or Palestinian forces. Earlier today, an army spokesman denied reports from abroad that there had been fighting or any kind of contact between Israeli and Syrian forces in Lebanon or air battles between Israeli and Syrian planes.

CLASH WITH SYRIANS

But Eitan said later there had been clashes with Syrian forces. He said the army took pains to avoid areas where Syrian troops were known to be deployed, even if the Palestinian troops were in the same region. He said he believed shells fired from Syrian-held areas were not fired by Syrian gunners.

Premier Menachem Begin spent much of the day at a forward command post “somewhere in the north” together with Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, Eitan and local area commanders and intelligence officers. According to one report, he went to the Beaufort Castle to personally congratulate victorious Israeli troops at the very time the PLO radio was denying that the stronghold had fallen.

The ancient Crusaders fortress, used by the Palestinians to bombard northern Israel, stands on a 700-foot bluff overlooking the Litani River. It had been subjected to repeated Israeli air and artillery bombardment but the thick stone walls held fast. Israeli military planners decided it could be taken only by direct ground assault. Begin today demonstratively handed over the ruins to Maj. Sood Haddad, commander of the Israel-backed Christian militia in south Lebanon.

“The Beaufort Castle is yours,” Begin told Haddad, underlining Israel’s official stated ob- jective not to hold any Lebanese territory but simply to clear it of terrorists. Begin informed President Reagan yesterday that Israel does not “covet an inch” of Lebanese territory and that the army was instructed to push the terrorists out of artillery and rocket range of northern Israel, to a distance of 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border.

According to available information, Israeli forces entered Lebanon shortly after noon yesterday after two days of intensive aerial and naval bombardment of PLO targets. The Israeli tanks and armored vehicles moved in three directions; westward toward the PLO ports of Tyre and Sidon where landings took place under cover of naval bombardment; northward to the Nabatiya area between the Litani and Zaharani rives and eastward toward the Mt. Hermon area, long known as “Fatahland” where PLO forces were concentrated. The latter thrust brought the Israeli columns to the closest point from the Beka valley where Syria has deployed SAM-anti-aircraft missiles.

Meanwhile, Palestinian rocket and artillery attacks on northern Israel which reached a peak of intensity over the weekend, ceased today, indicating that the Palestinians had been forced back from their firing positions. Nevertheless, residents of towns and villages in northern Israel remained in bomb shelters during the day.

PILOT IN HOSPITAL

The only military casualties acknowledged by Israel so far have been an Air Force plane shot down by anti-aircraft fire and a helicopter shot down by ground fire. The helicopter’s two-man crew was reported missing. The Air Force pilot who baled out over Lebanon was taken prisoner. At a press conference at a Beirut hospital today he said he had had “some problems” with the villagers who first captured him but felt safer when taken over by Palestinian soldiers for medical treatment and interrogation.

Eitan said today that “The present operation is not directed against the Syrians and Israel has no intention of harming or disrupting the lives of citizens of Lebanon who had no hand in terrorist activities.” Stressing that Israel had no territorial claims on Lebanon, Eitan declared in an order of the day: “We shall complete the mission and return, strengthened, to our homeland and peace and security will return to our northern towns and villages.”