Israel Smashes Three Arab Spy Missions; Three Killed, Four Captured

Israel smashed three Arab intelligence missions in a two-week period, killing three of the spy scouts, and capturing four, of whom one was wounded, an Army spokesman announced here today. In the skirmishes, four Israelis were wounded, one seriously.

All the actions took place on the northern border between October 24 and November 6. Interrogation of those captured and examination of other evidence, the Army spokesman said, showed the eight spy scouts involved had been sent by Lebanon’s “Second Bureau, ” under the command of Captain Samir Khtib, deputy chief of the Lebanese army intelligence, and by Capt; Abbas Hadman, head of the Lebanese section for Israeli intelligence.

Two of the groups had come into Israel directly from Lebanon, and the third via Syria. The first group was intercepted by the Israeli border patrols while the men were trying to reach the border on the way back from the all-Arab city of Hasareth, where the scouts were apparently trying to recruit intelligence agents. After a brief encounter, the first group of two men, both known intelligence scouts, was captured in the Meron mountain area.

A second group of three was intercepted on November 3 in Western Galilee. These men who tried to escape, were captured when Israel sealed the entire border in the area. Of these, one man was killed, another wounded, while a third was believed to have escaped. On November 6, a third group of three, one a Syrian, was intercepted while trying to reach the border after a scouting mission.

A police spokesman said today that, as a result of the smashing of these spy scouting expeditions, a number of Israeli Arabs, “less than 10, ” were arrested and were being interrogated about giving shelter to foreign agents. Israeli sources made no secret of the fact that they view this organized intelligence scouting by Lebanese authorities as “a grave” incident.