The El Fatah guerrilla command admitted for the first time today that Iraqi units stationed in Jordan were participating in assaults on Israel. The disclosure was contained in a Fatah announcement claiming that heavy casualties and damages were inflicted in attacks on the Yardena settlement in the Beisan Valley over the weekend and on an Israeli patrol near Hebron. Israeli military sources ridiculed the El Fatah casualty claims.
In that action, it was made known that Iraqi artillery, along with Jordanian guns, provided covering fire for a group of ten marauders who crossed the Jordan River in an attempt to penetrate Yardena last night. Israeli intelligence reportedly learned that Iraqi forces in Jordan have formed a guerrilla unit identified as the 421st “Kadassiya” regiment.
Yardena, a kibbutz 55 miles northeast of Tel Aviv, was attacked with mortar and bazooka fire Friday night. A 65 year-old woman resident was injured and some damage was reported to houses and telephone and electricity facilities. The settlement came under mortar attack again last night which caused injuries to three persons. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan made a surprise appearance at Yardena at midnight last night. He inspected the damage, visited the injured persons and promised that the Defense Ministry would do everything possible to strengthen the settlement’s defenses. Gen. Dayan said the courage of the settlers “set an example for the whole country.” He visited the home of one of the victims, 40 year-old Shalom Pinhas, the father of eight children. He proposed that an outside worker be brought in to take over Mr. Pinhas’ chores while he was recovering and said the Defense Ministry would bear the expense.
A curfew was imposed on several areas in and around Gaza last night following the ambush of an Israeli patrol in which four Israeli soldiers were injured, one of them seriously. The incident took place at 8:30 p.m. local time at the southern entrance to Gaza. The guerrillas hurled hand grenades and fired bazookas. A search of the area yielded four anti-vehicle mines which were dismantled.
An explosion damaged the civilian regional administration offices in Gaza last night. Earlier, three hand grenades were thrown at the local branch of the Israel Discount Bank, causing slight damage. An Army car struck a mine on the former demarcation line between Israel and Gaza but no casualties were reported. A storage shed used for chemicals was destroyed by an explosion.
A bridge on a road near the Lebanese border was damaged Friday by explosives and shots were fired simultaneously at an Israeli car. Army engineers repaired the damage. No casualties were reported. Several Katyusha rockets were fired Friday at the Sdom potash plant on the south shore of the Dead Sea without causing casualties or damage. A bomb went off near the Labor exchange office in Nablus Friday, causing slight damage but no casualties. Three Israeli soldiers were wounded in an artillery exchange across the Suez Canal Thursday and an Israeli patrol was the target of hand grenades and small arms fire near Kahn Yunis in the Gaza Strip. The patrol killed one of the attackers.
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