Israel Denies Its Tanks Went on a Rampage in Sidon

The Israel Defense Force has denied reports from Sidon that IDF crews in Merkava tanks “went berserk” in the town yesterday and fired indiscriminately, wounding residents and damaging cars and other property.

The army spokesman pointed out that there were no Merkava tanks in Sidon yesterday nor any Israeli tanks in the possession of Maj0. Saod Hoddod’s south Lebanon militia which might have been mistaken for Israeli tanks. The spokesman said that the news agencies which reported the incident had no resident correspondents there.

According to the army spokesman, Israeli forces in personnel carriers on patrol in the main street spotted a car parked in an area where parking is banned, to prevent booby-trapped cars from being left there. When the owner or the driver of the car could not be found, the IDF crews fired at the vehicle to detonate any possible bombs in it, in accordance with standing army regulations in such instances, of which the Lebanese residents were fully aware.

The Sidon area last week was the scene of three terrorist attacks within two days against IDF forces. There were no Israeli casualties in any of the attacks. Last night, a bomb exploded near a parked car in Sidon. Overnight, explosions damaged two Palestinian-owned shops.

Meanwhile, the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv strenuously denied reports from Lebanon, including allegedly eye-witness reports, that its air raid last week on pro-Iranian terrorist bases near Baalbek had caused heavy civilian casualties. These reports claimed that 100 people had been killed and 400 wounded. The on-the spot reports charged that Israeli planes had deliberately chosen civilian targets. But the IDF published aerial photographs token with the air-crafts’ bomb-sight cameras before, during and after the raid showing pinpoint accuracy on military targets.