Israeli helicopters targeted suspected guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon on Wednesday after an Israeli soldier was killed during clashes with fundamentalist gunmen in the central sector of the security zone.
Six other Israeli soldiers were wounded in the day’s heavy fighting, which came amid renewed American efforts to restart the long-sidetracked negotiations between Israel and Syria.
Two Islamic fundamentalist movements, Amal and Hezbollah, were involved in the clashes, Israel Television reported.
The first clash occurred early Wednesday morning, when an Israeli paratrooper patrol operating in the central sector of the security zone encounter a guerrilla unit.
In ensuing firefight, Sgt. Eran Sabag, 20, of Beer Ya’acov, was killed. Two officers were moderately wounded and another soldiers was lightly hurt.
Four guerrillas were reportedly killed in the exchange.
A few hours later, three soldiers were lightly wounded when guerrillas fired missiles at an Israeli position in the eastern sector of the security zone.
The fighting took place as U.S. Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross briefed Israeli leaders on his talks a day earlier in Damascus with Syrian President Hafez Assad.
Ross said he had the impression that Israel and Syria were "serious" about wanting to resume peace negotiations, which were halted by Syria in late June.
But at the same time, there were no indications that any breakthrough had been reached.
Foreign Minister Ehud Barak said the chances of a resumption of negotiations with Syria would become clear only after Prime Minister Shimon Peres met next week in Washington with President Clinton.
Peres, who is expected to address Congress during his stay in Washington, has reportedly formulated a position paper on resuming talks with Syria.
Among the paper’s main point: a summit meeting Peres and Assad; parallel discussions on the key issues of security arrangements, troop redeployment and normalization of relations; and raising the level of talks to the ministerial level.
The delay in the resumption of the talks was partly the result of Syrian demands that Israel withdraw completely from the Golan Heights as a precondition to the negotiation.
Israel, which rejects any preconditions, has expressed a willingness to make a phased withdrawal from the Golan.
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