IDF Destroying Tunnel Network Used by the PLO to Store Arms

As part of the Israel government’s redeployment of its troops in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Force yesterday began destroying the extensive tunnel network developed by the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon used for the storage of military equipment.

The IDF began work in the Damour area south of Beirut using hundreds of tons of high explosives to blow up the storage funnels in what army engineers described as a difficult and complicated operation.

The extensive network of tunnels, dug into hillsides off the main road from Beirut southward, were discovered as the Israeli forces advanced north during the initial stages of the fighting in Lebanon last summer. The tunnels were packed with explosives, arms and ammunition, and in some cases, Russian-made vehicles and artillery pieces.

It was perhaps the destruction of the funnels which gave rise yesterday to reports that Israel was following a “scorched earth policy,” destroying thousands of trees and houses, as part of the IDF redeployment from the Shouf mountain area south to the Awali River. Chief of Staff Gen. Moshe Levy yesterday denied accusations of such a policy, saying, “Isolated trees may be uprooted but in numbers not even statistically significant.”

Meanwhile, special U.S. envoy Robert McFarlane today concluded two days of talks with Israeli officials in what sources here said was an effort by the U.S. envoy to ensure a smooth redeployment without a deterioration of the situation in the Shouf mountains, the site of recent heavy fighting between rival Druze and Christian militias.

Both Israel and the United States maintain informal contacts with the warring factions in the Shouf area. McFarlane is reportedly anxious to establish a framework for close coordination between Israel and the Lebanese government of President Am in Gemayel during and after the redeployment, expected imminently.

But Israeli sources indicated that the refusal of the Lebanese government over recent weeks to hold direct high level meetings with Israeli ministers is still in effect. Defense Minister Moshe Arens made an unexpected visit to Beirut yesterday. McFarlane left Israel to go to Beirut while his assistant, Richard Fairbanks, was scheduled to go to Damascus for talks with the Syrians.