Four Israeli Soldiers Killed in Weekend Fighting; Egyptian Positions Pounded

Israel Air Force jets continued to pound Egyptian defense positions west of the Suez Canal for the second successive day. Today’s targets were about 20 miles inland from the waterway. Yesterday Israeli planes attacked Russian-made SA-2 ground-to-air missile bases at Mansura in the Nile Delta about 65 miles north of Cairo and 60 miles west of the Suez Canal. On Friday, the Israeli bombers concentrated on artillery and anti-aircraft gun emplacements in the northern and southern sections of the canal zone. All planes returned safely from all missions.

Israel lost four soldiers in fighting over the week-end in the Suez Canal area and in the Golan Heights. Two of them were killed Friday night in twin Israeli commando attacks on Egyptian positions on the west bank of the canal about 30 miles south of Port Said, an operation which the Israeli military called an outstanding success. Two other Israeli soldiers were killed Friday when their vehicle hit a mine north of Hispin in the Golan Heights while on patrol. The soldiers killed in the Suez attack were identified as Sgt. Dan Epstein, 20, of Kibbutz Alonim and Corp. Yosef Brenham, 21, of Kibbutz May Chaim. The mine victims were Pvt. Abraham Levi, 31 and Corp. Hillel Heymann, 27, both from Solon. Syrian forces fired small arms and bazookas at an Israeli post in the southern Gold Heights last night. Mortars were fired earlier at another Gold post. There were no Israeli casualties. Military sources said the sudden escalation of fighting on the Syrian front was apparently the result of high level government policy in Damascus rather than incidental acts by guerrillas. An Israeli soldier was injured this morning when an Army vehicle struck a mine near Hatted, south of the Dead Sea. Bazooka shells were fired from Lebanese territory this morning at the Israeli settlement of Far Duval. There were no casualties or damage. An Israeli patrol killed one Arab and wounded another trying to escape from an identity check in Gaza today. The dead man was identified as an Arab from Haifa. The other was a local resident. A military spokesman describing Friday night’s commando raid across the Suez Canal said the Israeli forces crossed and re-crossed the waterway without being detected by Egyptian forces. He said, however, that the fighting took place on difficult terrain and that the commandos were pitted against crack Egyptian troops. Nevertheless, they killed at least eight Egyptians and probably wounded more against a loss of two Israeli dead and four wounded. The Egyptian positions were demolished and a quantity of Russian-made rifles, machine guns and bazookas were captured.