Israel Calls off Search for Two Missing IDF Men in South Lebanon

The Israel Defense Force called off its massive search in south Lebanon for two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Shiite Moslem extremists February 17 and still missing.

The search, begun last Tuesday when Israeli infantry, supported by tanks, half tracks, armored personnel carriers and helicopters fanned out of the border security zone into south Lebanon, eased off on Friday. On Saturday morning, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, chief of Staff Gen. Moshe Levy and the commander of the northern region, Maj. Gen. Ori Orr, brought the operation to an end.

Virtually all IDF units are now back in Israel, the Cabinet was told at a briefing Sunday morning. Rabin said Israel would continue to seek “relevant information” as to the whereabouts of the missing soldiers. “Once we get the relevant information,” Rabin told Voice of Israel Radio, “we shall decide how to act.” Military sources said earlier that the search will now be carried out “by other methods.”

SOME 3,000 SHIITE VILLAGERS QUESTIONED

In the course of the four-day operation, the IDF conducted house-to-house searches in some 20 Shiite villages in south Lebanon. About 3,000 villagers were questioned and 90 were detained. Large caches of weapons and ammunition were seized in many of the villages.

The arms were said to belong to the Hezbullah (Party of God) movement, the fanatical Iran-linked Shiite group which was believed behind the kidnapping of the soldiers, and Amal, the mainstream Shiite militia and political organization.

The two soldiers were seized after their convoy was ambushed in the Lebanese border security zone by a group calling itself the Islamic Resistance Movement. It is believed to be a front for Hezbullah. They were identified by the IDF as Yossi Fink of Raanana and Rahamim Alsheich, of Rosh Haayin, both 20 and both yeshiva students doing their military service.

Their captors announced Thursday that one of the two had been “executed” because Israel ignored an ultimatum to pull the IDF out of south Lebanon. There was no evidence to confirm this. The whereabouts of the men remain unknown.

IDF SUFFERS TWO CASUALTIES

The IDF suffered two fatalities in the course of the search operation. A 19-year-old soldier, Sgt. Alon Ben-Shahar of Jerusalem, was killed Thursday when Shiite gunmen attacked his unit with bazooka and machinegun fire from an ambush near Sreifa village outside the border security zone. Eight of the attackers were killed in the hour-long skirmish.

On February 18, the day the search began, Daniel Amar of Netanya, a 19-year-old naval rating, was killed by a sniper who fired at his patrol boat from a Lebanese beach near Tyre.

REASONS FOR CALLING OFF SEARCH

Military and political sources indicated that the search was called off for several reasons apart from the fact that it was proving fruitless. Israel wanted to avoid renewed friction with the largely Shiite population in south Lebanon. According to Uri Lubrani, government coordinator for south Lebanon, the Shiites were beginning to doubt that Israel had any intention to withdraw and there was mounting pressure for guerrilla action against the IDF.

In addition, the continued search posed a threat of retaliation against Israeli towns and settlements in the north. About a dozen Katyusha rockets were fired toward Israel territory without causing casualties or damage. Several explosions were heard in western Galilee Sunday morning. Soldiers searched the area for impact signs. It was not immediately clear whether rockets fell in Galilee or inside the security zone.

Premier Shimon Peres had high praise for the search operation at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting. He said it demonstrated the concern of the army for the welfare of each and every soldier. Lubrani expressed the view Sunday that the pullback of the IDF would restore calm in the area.