Israel Air Force jets blasted targets in Lebanon and Jordan today. The targets in Lebanon were three guerrilla bases on the southeast slopes of Mt. Hermon from where a Katyusha rocket attack was launched last night at the Israeli border village of Kiryat Shemona. A nine-year-old boy and a 26-year-old man were killed and five other civilians were injured.
A military spokesman said jets attacked Jordanian military positions opposite the Beisan Valley after an Israeli patrol came under bazooka and automatic weapon fire east of Ashdod Yaacob. All planes returned to their bases safely.
The victims in Kiryat Shemona, a new immigrant township, were Uri Azarza, nine, who was fatally wounded by fragments of a rocket that exploded about 10 yards from where he was playing, and Moshe Ayala who was riding on a motor scooter with his pregnant wife when he was hit. Mrs. Ayala was injured as was 10-year-old Yaffa Ben Shimon who was playing near the Azarza boy, and three occupants of a passing jeep.
The 200 mm. Katyusha rocket launchers opened fire towards evening as residents of Kiryat Shemona were walking the streets after an especially hot day. The first salvo landed near neighboring Kfar Giladi damaging a chicken coop. Other rockets damaged electric lines and started a fire in an empty lot. Israeli artillery directed heavy fire toward the border area where the rocket launchers were positioned, near the village of Rashid el Paher.
A military spokesman reported several artillery duels in the Port Tewfik area of the Suez Canal zone today. An Israeli soldier and a civilian tractor driver were injured. Another Israeli soldier, Lance Corp. Harold Leibovitz, 23, of Kibbutz Tzorra, was killed by Egyptian fire south of the Great Bitter Lake Monday. His death brought to 10 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the canal zone and the Golan Heights during a 24 hour period that ended Monday.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
