Israeli forces, heavily supported by air and naval bombardment, were deep in Lebanon today mopping up pockets of Palestinian resistance. Clashes with Syria have been limited to aerial dogfights. A military spokesman reported today that four Syrian MIG fighters were shot down today after attempting to interfere with Israeli aircraft.
According to the latest reports, Israeli troops have advanced some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the border. This is twice the distance Premier Menachem Begin said the Israeli would move to push Palestinian rockets and artillery out of range of northern Israel. Israeli forces have surrounded the port town of Sidon and advanced into the area of Damour, a major Palestinian base about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Beirut.
Advances have also been made in the central sector, taking Israeli armor and troops north of the Zaharani River, and in the eastern sector, the area known as “Fatahland.” Progress has been slower there, a military spokesman said, because the Israelis are seeking to avoid a direct clash with Syrian troops stationed in the region.
25 ISRAELIS KILLED, 96 WOUNDED
Israel released its first report of casualties today. A military spokesman said that as of midnight last night, 40 hours after the push into Lebanon began, 25 Israeli soldiers were killed, seven were missing, 96 were wounded and one Israeli pilot was downed and captured. The spokesman said that 66 of the wounded sustained only slight injuries, 19 had moderate wounds and II were seriously wounded.
The army had said originally that it would not release casualty figures until the fighting ended. This morning’s announcement was apparently intended to scotch rumors of heavy casualties circulating in Israel and abroad. British sources quoted in a BBC broadcast last night, claimed that some 500 Palestinians are believed to have been killed and Israeli dead and wounded amounted to 400.
Two Katyusha rockets were fired into the Upper Galilee panhandle shortly after midnight, apparently from Palestinian positions in “Fatah land” where Israeli troops are proceeding cautiously to avoid contact with the Syrians. The rest of Galilee was free from attack and life in the border towns and villages has returned to normal. But Katyusha rockets and artillery were still blasting the Christian enclave in south Lebanon held by Maj. Saad Haddad’s Israel-backed militia.
SYRIAN MI GS SHOT DOWN
A military spokesman said those weapons were fired from the Syrian-occupied area which Israel so far has refrained from attacking. Syrian forces were reported at noon today to have evacuated the township of Jezinne, some 15 kilometers east of Sidon which is encircled by Israeli forces. The Syrians reportedly handed the town over to the Palestinians.
The report of today’s air battles said two of the Syrian MIGs were shot down when they tried to intercept an Israeli mission north of Beirut and two others were downed over the Galilee panhandle. They were the first Syrian planes to be brought down in Israeli territory.
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