Gen. Yariv Charges 40-50 Missiles in Truce Zone, 3000 Soviet Troops, Technicians

The chief of Israeli intelligence charged today that there are about 3000 Russian troops and technicians in the 32-mile Suez Canal stand-still cease-fire zone in flagrant violation of the Aug. 7 truce. According to Gen. Aharon Yariv the Russians are manning SAM-3 antiaircraft missile batteries. He said the SAM-3s comprise about one-third of the 40-50 operational missile batteries installed in the stand-still truce zone by the Egyptians after the cease-fire went into effect. Gen. Yariv said the operational batteries are primed with some 300-400 missiles and that the Egyptians have built about 100 more sites for additional missiles. He said the present missile concentration in the Suez Canal zone was the heaviest and most advanced in the world and admitted that it could seriously blunt Israeli air superiority. Gen. Yariv appeared at a briefing for newsmen here today with maps and aerial photographs which, he said, pinpointed Egyptian truce violations. He said that if reports of new American arms supplies to Israel were true they would contribute to a certain extent to Israel’s ability to face the Egyptian and Russian deployment in the Suez area. But the American arms will not change the fact that a flagrant violation of the cease-fire agreement was carried out and this undermines the credibility of any future agreement with the Egyptians, he said.

According to Gen. Yariv the violations were part of the strategy agreed to by the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Kremlin leaders during his last visit to Moscow. He said the strategy was aimed at foreign Israel to accept a settlement dictated by Russia. Gen. Yariv said that aerial photo- made on the eve of the Aug. 7 cease-fire showed only 16 missile batteries in the zone 19-32 miles west of the Suez Canal, with one slightly east of the 19-mile line. Now, he said, there are 40-50 operational missile batteries from seven to 19 miles west of the canal. Gen. Yariv said that Israeli evidence that all of these batteries were constructed after the cease-fire is confirmed by independent sources. He noted that paragraph “C” of the cease-fire agreement specified that no work should be done on missile sites which were damaged or deserted by the Egyptians during Israeli air attacks of the week prior to the cease-fire. Gen. Yariv said that the Egyptian missile deployment is not merely defensive but covers Soviet 203 mm. cannon which are an offensive weapon.