Israel Reports Terrorists Fighting Each Other in South Lebanon; Lebanese Seek Israeli Medical Aid

The rapidly escalating Lebanese civil was has become a battle between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Syrian-backed Palestinian terrorists, according to the accounts of Lebanese eye-witnesses arriving at Israeli border posts for medical treatment. As Syrian armored columns advanced on Beirut today and Syrian war planes attacked Palestinian leftist strongholds, the Lebanese refugees reported that clashes have taken place between the Syrian-sponsored Al Saiqa and units of El Fatah, the terrorist group headed by PLO chieftain Yasir Arafat.

According to the refugees, the battles took place near Nabatiyeh and Huleh villages in southern Lebanon. Local villagers who were wounded in the fighting continued to arrive at the Israeli border fence today in cars and horse drawn carts. At least 20 Lebanese civilians have requested medical care in the past 24 hours. Israeli ambulances and medical corpsmen have been stationed at the border posts for that purpose.

Most of the injuries were caused by bullets or shell fragments and some were in advanced stages of infection. The wounded are treated and given medication to take home. Seriously wounded persons, such as an elderly woman with a bullet in her throat are taken by ambulance to Israeli hospitals for treatment. The refugees beg the Israelis not to take their pictures or publish their names. They claim that other Lebanese known to have sought medical help in Israel were murdered by terrorists when they returned to their villages.

Meanwhile, a group of West Bank mayors published a statement in East Jerusalem’s Arabic press yesterday denouncing the Syrian intervention in Lebanon as a pretext to destroy the PLO. They called on the Arab League to take measures against Syria. The statement was the first by West Bank leaders in support of Palestinians fighting the Syrians in Lebanon.