Israel Air Force jets pounded Syrian positions and artillery emplacements in the Mt. Hermon area this morning for the second consecutive day as fighting intensified all along the northern front. Two Israeli soldiers were killed by Syrian shellfire yesterday and the body of a third, missing from his unit since Tuesday, was recovered this morning. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded yesterday and two were wounded in today’s fighting.
The dead were identified as Sgt. Joseph Ha Efrati, 43, of Givatayim; Lt. Simcha Thau, 21, of Holon; and Pvt. Yedit Shochat, 20, of Patish settlement. Sgt. Ha’Efrati, who held a doctorate in literature and was a lecturer at Tel Aviv Uni- versity, was serving as education officer with an Israeli unit on the Golan Heights. He was killed in the southern sector of the Golan Heights. Lt. Thau was killed in the same area. Pvt. Shochat had been missing. Funeral services were held for the victims today in their respective communities.
Syrian artillery was in action for hours yesterday against Israeli positions in the Yom Kippur War enclave, the southern Golan Heights and Mt. Hermon. Intensive Syrian fire was directed at the peak of the 9200-foot mountain where Israeli forces have been entrenched since they ousted a Syrian force Sunday. Israel Air Force planes were called in yesterday to strike at Syrian gun emplacements in the Hermon area and well behind the Syrian lines.
SYRIAN WAR PLANES IN ACTION
For the first time since the Yom Kippur War, Syrian planes were sent into action today against the Israeli-held Mt. Hermon peak position as well as against two other Israeli positions in the southern sector of the Golan Heights. Israeli interceptors were sent up but no combat contact was made with the Syrian planes, officials said.
The Syrian air activity came after five hours of intermittent attacks by Israeli Air Force planes against Syrian positions in the Mt. Hermon area. Those attacks followed a Syrian shelling barrage on Israeli positions on Mt. Hermon and along the cease-fire line. There were no Israeli casualties during the afternoon shelling.
Meanwhile a report that 400 Egyptian tank men have arrived in Syria and are now serving with the Syrian army was made today in Zurich by the “Neue Zuericher Zeitung.” The newspaper said this might explain why the Syrians have ceased their denunciations of Egypt for its disengagement agreement with Israel. There was no confirmation of this report from other sources.
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