Israeli forces along the Suez Canal repulsed an Egyptian commando raid early this morning, the second in 24 hours. Israeli Air Force jets blasted gun positions in Jordan today during a five hour clash in which Jordanian regulars joined guerrillas in bombarding settlements in the Beisan Valley and the southern Golan Heights.
A military spokesman announced that two Israeli soldiers were killed and two were wounded in today’s artillery clashes with Jordanians in which Iraqi gunners may also have participated. An Israeli soldier was wounded by an Egyptian sniper on the Suez Canal near Kantara. Jordanian and guerrilla forces aimed mortar, machinegun and artillery fire at Ashdod Yaacov, Hamadya, Neve Urr, Bet Yosef and other Beisan settlements. There were no casualties among the residents.
A military spokesman said an Israeli patrol on the east bank of the Suez Canal intercepted a small band of Egyptian soldiers who had crossed the waterway at a point between Kantara and Port Said. After a brief exchange of fire the Egyptians were driven back. Three Israeli soldiers were slightly wounded and one vehicle was damaged but was quickly repaired, the spokesman said.
Military sources denied that Egyptian commandos entered or held any Israeli positions in the first commando raid which took place Saturday evening opposite Ismailia at the midpoint of the canal. They said the raids, by small groups of specially trained commandos, represented a new Egyptian policy of harassment because constant artillery barrages have failed.
The Cairo newspaper Al Ahram said today that Egyptian commandos had launched “numerous raids” across the canal to avenge the death of Gen. Abdel Moneim Riad, Egypt’s Army chief of staff who was killed recently during an artillery duel with Israeli forces. A spokesman here said that Egyptian commando raids have been on a small scale and have achieved little or nothing. He noted that in the past Egypt officially attributed the raids to El Fatah, the Palestinian guerrilla movement; now they are taking credit for them, apparently to boost morale on the home front, the spokesman said.
The fighting along the Israel-Jordan demarcation line was on a bigger scale than across the Suez Canal yesterday and today. A military spokesman said today’s clash began with an attack on an Israeli patrol near Bet Yosef in the Beisan Valley with bazookas and machine guns. The patrol returned the fire upon which Jordanian forces opened up with artillery. The shelling spread to the northern Beisan Valley and the southern Golan Heights. Israeli artillery went into action and Israeli jets were sent on a series of sorties to knock out the Jordanian positions, a military spokesman reported. He said there was a noticeable diminution of Jordanian artillery fire after the planes went into action.
A spokesman in Amman claimed that two Israeli jets were shot down. He said the planes dropped napalm and strafed the area around Waqas village 11 miles south of the Sea of Galilee and also hit the Sohn and Zmal areas further south. An Israeli spokesman said the jets struck guerrilla positions used as bases for attacks on Israeli settlements. There were no reports of any Israeli planes lost. Israeli sources said that Jordanian regulars were now opening fire in every incident initiated by saboteurs. They said in the last few days the Jordanians did not wait for the guerrillas but started artillery duels themselves.
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