Israeli commandos struck deep into Egypt again last night to wreck electric power lines linking the Aswan High Dam with Cairo and the Nile delta. It was the second Israeli raid into Egyptian territory in the last eight days and the third this year. An Israeli military spokesman said the commandos encountered no resistance, fired no shots and returned safely to their bases.
According to Israeli sources, the target was the Nile River town of Souhag, 250 miles south of Cairo, 92 miles north of the Aswan Dam and 137 miles inland from the Red Sea. A 500-kilovolt transmission line feeding the Egyptian capital was damaged along with a local electric power line.
An Israeli spokesman said, “It may be supposed that a breakdown of electricity supply occurred in the target area and north of it” as a result of the raid. (Egypt’s official Government spokesman. Dr. Mohamed H. el-Zayyat, denied that any raid had taken place or that electric power to Cairo was cut off. He claimed that Israeli officials received erroneous reports from their commandos.)
On June 22, Israeli forces raided an Egyptian naval radar station on the Gulf of Suez. They reported killing 15 Egyptian soldiers in the encounter. On April 30, helicopter-borne Israeli commandos damaged a Nile bridge, dam and electric transformer stations at Naj Hamadi in the Upper Nile Valley. Last Nov. 1 Israeli troops struck a power station and bridge at Naj Hammadi.
The raids were all apparently intended to demonstrate the vulnerability of vital targets deep inside Egypt and the huge Aswan Dam itself. The latest raid followed a 10-hour artillery duel between Israeli and Egyptian forces along the Suez Canal. Israeli military circles have noted a heavy build-up of Egyptian forces along the waterway in recent weeks and increased activity among them. The Egyptians are said to have seven divisions massed in the Suez Canal zone. They outnumber the Israeli forces holding the Canal’s east bank and have more weapons.
Observers here said the Israeli commando raids demonstrated that a new war, if launched by the Egyptians, would not be confined to the front where their forces are concentrated, Israeli sources reported 11 major clashes and 267 minor incidents along the Suez Canal between June 1 and June 22. Yesterday’s shelling marked the eighth successive day of artillery battles across the canal.
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