Fighting erupted last night and this morning near El Hamma in the north and near Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba in the extreme south of Israel. A military spokesman said there were no Israeli casualties. He said that last night and this morning Israeli positions near Eilat came under fire from Jordan. The area is usually quiet because the Jordanians do not want to endanger the town of Aqaba, their country’s only access to the sea. The spokesman denied a Jordanian report that Israeli forces had penetrated Jordan territory in the Eilat area.
Israel also denied a communique from El Fatah headquarters in Amman that guerrilla forces had staged a successful attack on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights last night. El Fatah claimed that they inflicted heavy Israeli casualties and damage in a 45 minute rocket attack on Abul Zhab in the heights. According to the Israeli account, two positions in the Golan Heights came under fire from Syrian territory but suffered no casualties. Mortars and bazookas were also fired last night in the Kfar Ruppin area of the Beisan Valley without causing casualties. This morning’s attack near El Hamma was aimed at an Israeli patrol which returned the fire and suffered no casualties El Hamma is at the junction of the Israeli, Syrian and Jordanian borders.
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