An Israeli soldier, severely wounded when his convoy was ambushed near Sarafand in south Lebanon Sunday, died today in a Haifa hospital. His death brought to 602 the number of fatalities sustained by the Israel Defense Force in Lebanon since the invasion of that country in June, 1982.
It was the second IDF fatality in south Lebanon this month and casualties continue to mount. Three soldiers were wounded yesterday, two of them when an IDF convoy was attacked near Jibshit village in the western sector of the front and another in a convoy attack just north of the Zaharani River. The wounds suffered by the three men were described as slight to moderate.
Defense officials seemed confident meanwhile that the Israel-Lebanon talks aimed at the withdrawal of the IDF from south Lebanon will resume shortly at Nakura, possibly tomorrow. The talks, under United Nations auspices, began last Thursday but were suspended by the Beirut government over the weekend to protest the arrest by Israeli authorities of four leaders of the Shiite Moslem militia, Amal, believed responsible for the increased incidence of attacks on the IDF in south Lebanon.
There has been intense behind-the scenes activity to get the talks re-started, involving U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy who is in the region. Officers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were reported today to be readying their headquarters in Nakura for the second round of talks. But no word has been received from Beirut as yet.
Israeli sources indicated they may be prepared to release some of the Amal detainees. They made it clear however that this would not mean a lessening of IDF action against terrorists.
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