Israel notified the United Nations Security Council today that it had acted in self-defense in attacking positions in the Irbid area of Jordan manned by Iraqi units because of the Iraqis’ “persistent and mounting aggression” against Israeli settlements. In a letter to the president of the Security Council, Ambassador Yosef Tekoah reported that the Israel action had followed the shelling of 11 settlements earlier today by Iraqis based on Jordanian territory. He described today’s mortar assault as the eighth and largest artillery attack on Israeli settlements since Oct. 17.
The envoy said that the Iraqis had been actively supporting the terrorists and that officers and men of Iraqi Battalion 421 had participated in terrorist sabotage raids and some of them had been taken prisoner. He noted that Iraq had still not accepted the cease-fire established by the Security Council following the Six-Day War in which it had been a belligerent.
Jordan complained to the Council today that “waves of Israeli aircraft” flew over wide areas of Jordan today and bombed Iraqi and Jordanian positions while the east bank of the Jordan was subjected to heavy Israeli artillery fire. The Jordanian letter warned that “the situation has deteriorated further as a result of continuous Israeli attacks on Jordan for the last four days.”
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