Israel Air Force jets pounded two guerrilla bases and training camps in eastern Lebanon today said to have been the staging area for the November 4 truck-bomb attack on Israeli military headquarters in Tyre and the similar attack of October 23 on U.S. marine and French military headquarters in Beirut.
A military spokesman said accurate hits were scored which completely destroyed both bases and camp areas and adjacent munitions dumps. He said all Israeli aircraft returned safely to their bases. Beirut radio reported this morning that the Israeli raids caused heavy casualties among the guerrilla forces in the target area.
Military sources said the targets were some seven kilometers east of Rayak in the Baalbek area of the Bekaa valley. According to the Israelis, the bases were utilized by the Iranian “Guardians of the Iranian Revolution” and by an allied pro-Iranian Shiite Moslem group headed by Hussein Mrussawi who was said to have been in the area at the time of the attack.
U.S. ACTION HAD BEEN AWAITED
Today’s attack was the first by Israel since its jets blasted terrorist bases in Lebanon immediately after the November 4 bombing in Tyre which took the lives of 29 Israeli service personnel and 31 Lebanese. Officials here suggested that the Israel Defense Force held off further retaliation because it was awaiting punitive action by the United States for the deaths of 230 marines and sailors in Beirut last month.
The Americans reportedly had asked Israel to pinpoint the bases from which the attacks were launched. But when the U.S. failed to act up to now, the Israel Air Force was ordered to destroy the bases, officials here said.
They said the Israeli action was in line with the policy of retaliation for any assaults on Israeli personnel in Lebanon and that such raids would continue as long as necessary. Military sources here said that care was taken to ensure accuracy in today’s air strike to avoid harming Syrian army units deployed close to the target area.
SYRIAN INTENTIONS ASSESSED
Senior army officers told Israeli military correspondents yesterday that the IDF did not believe that Syria is planning an imminent attack on Israel, though the possibility could not be ruled out completely in the future. The officers seemed to be trying to de-escalate tension in the region and play down the recent contention by some government ministers, including Deputy Premier David Levy, that a Syrian attack was an immediate possibility.
Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft were reported to have flown reconnaissance missions today over the Beirut area and further north, over Tripoli where Palestine Liberation Organization dissidents backed by Syria and Libya were said to have overrun the last strong-hold of PLO chief Yasir Arafat in the Badawi refugee camp.
In south Lebanon, an Israeli soldier was slightly wounded this morning when his vehicle was ambushed east of Tyre. Security forces were searching the area for the perpetrators.
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