The Israel Defense Force is involved in a new quarrel with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). It flatly rejected a complaint by UNIFIL and by the International Red Cross that their representatives were barred from entering the Shiite village of Marakha in south Lebanon last week after an IDF search for alleged terrorists in the village which lies six miles east of Tyre.
According to UNIFIL, its officers attempted to enter the village after hearing gunfire and explosions there and saw IDF helicopters bringing re-enforcements. But they were blocked by Israeli troops. A French UNIFIL officer reportedly tried to infiltrate an IDF cordon but was discovered and turned back. The village is in an area patrolled by Senegalese units of the UN force.
An IDF spokesman said UNIFIL and Red Cross ambulances came to the village four hours after the operation was completed. He said the villagers had demonstrated and some were wounded when shots were fired. But the wounded were evacuated long before the ambulances arrived, the IDF spokesman said. UNIFIL charged that it was prevented from sending ambulances into the village after the villagers called for them to take the wounded to hospitals.
The deputy commander of UNIFIL was permitted to enter the village on the following morning and received a full explanation of the Israeli operation, the IDF said. Army sources said the IDF would continue to carry out searches and arrests of suspected terrorists.
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