Four Israeli soldiers were wounded this morning south of Sidon when a car exploded next to their vehicle, the army announced. Security forces were said to be searching the area around the incident.
According to Lebanon State Radio in Beirut, there was an “atmosphere of panic” in the Lebanese capital just before U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz arrived there this morning from Jerusalem. The radio said the PLO was rumored to have prepared a score of car bombs in northern Lebanon and was trying to bring them into Beirut where they would disrupt the Shultz visit. Lebanon army and police units set up road blocks throughout the city and were giving all incoming cars a thorough check.
In a separate incident, U.S. marines in Beirut today opened fire on a car which smashed through a barbed wire checkpoint. The car was hit but the two men inside were unhurt. A marine spokesman said one of the men was Lebanese and the other was a Syrian with false Lebanese papers. He said both appeared drunk.
The incident occurred outside the British Embassy, where American officials have been accomodated since last week’s bomb blast of the U.S. Embassy.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
