Israeli Mirage fighter jets today drove off a group of Egyptian Migs which penetrated Israeli airspace over in the Nitzana area in the Negev, the Army spokesman announced today. The air clash developed, the spokesman said, after the Israeli jets took off to meet the Egyptian planes, when it was learned that the latter entered Israeli airspace.
The Egyptian planes returned to their own territory after the Israeli jets fired a number of shots. All the Israeli planes returned safely to their base.
In an incident along the Syrian border, the second in two days at the same spot, Syrian gun positions attacked an Israeli tractor working at Korazim north of Lake Tiberias, damaging the vehicle slightly. The fire, which was directed from three Syrian positions utilizing recoilless guns and automatic weapons, was silenced by return fire from the Israeli side before United Nations observers arranged a cease fire.
Today’s exchange of fire began only a short time after the U.N. observers concluded their investigation of a similar attack yesterday in which the Syrian positions continued firing at an Israeli tractor in the same area for several hours until a cease fire was arranged. The Israelis returned the fire after the Syrian positions intensified their attack and two Syrian posts used machine guns. There were no casualties on the Israeli side.
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