The Israeli air force launched massive raids Monday over southern Lebanon and reportedly leveled 14 terrorist targets in six villages within 30 minutes.
Reports from Sidon in southern Lebanon said seven terrorists were killed and 17 wounded. Al Fatah, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s main fighting arm, claimed a 2-year-old child was among the victims.
The air strike was the first since the Persian Gulf war began and followed a week of incessant artillery shelling of PLO positions by the Israel Defense Force and its allied South Lebanon Army.
The bombardment by Israel and the SLA came in retaliation for the recent intensification of Katyusha rocket attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon. All of the Katyushas exploded harmlessly in the southern Lebanon security zone.
Last week, Palestinian sources in southern Lebanon had claimed that PLO chief Yasir Arafat ordered the assault as part of a “second front” in the Persian Gulf war. However, the PLO, from its headquarters in Tunis, denied Arafat was behind the attacks.
The rocket attacks seem to have backfired, sending Palestinian refugees again fleeing their habitats after being pelted by the return fire.
On Monday, Nabih Berri, leader of the Lebanese Shi’ite Moslem militia Amal, said he had received assurances from the PLO that no more rockets would be fired at Israel.
According to the IDF, the targets hit were in Tsarba village, site of Katyusha launchings, and a Fatah terrorist base at the Ain Hilweh refugee camp just east of Sidon.
All aircraft returned safely to their bases.
Military sources in Israel said the strong response to the Katyusha attacks, which caused neither casualties nor damage, was intended to let the terrorists know that Israel would not tolerate hostile activity on its northern border or any attempt to extend the Gulf war there.
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.
