Defense Minister Shimon Peres has revealed that Israeli fighter planes were sent to intercept Soviet helicopters he said sought during July to photograph Israeli navy units. Peres also said that Egypt and Syria had violated the disengagement agreements but that the agreements were holding generally. He made the statements Friday in a report to the Cabinet which were disclosed in a communique after the Cabinet meeting. Cabinet reports on security matters are strictly classified.
According to the communique, Peres said the “Komav” helicopters were based on the Soviet carrier “Leningrad” and had been assigned to minesweeping operations in clearing the Suez Canal for reopening. Peres said that after the Israeli planes arrived on the scene off southwest Sinai, the helicopters immediately flew away. The Defense Minister said the incidents took place opposite Ras Misalla in the Jobal Strait near the southernmost tip of the Sinai triangle. He said “Israeli air force planes were sent up to meet the helicopters, which withdrew southward.” Israel has submitted a complaint to the United Nations.
Peres said Egyptian units, some mobile and some infantry, had penetrated the UN buffer zone in Sinai and that Egypt was reinstalling ground-to-air missile bases in the limited forces zone at the Suez Canal, but he said the missiles had not been armed. He said three of the missiles were in the Port Fuad area and another near Kuneitra. The disengagement pact bars missiles on the canal’s east bank. He also said Syria had installed 160-mm mortars in the Golan Heights zone.
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