American intelligence sources reported today that the Egyptian army has constructed more than 90 fortified strong points in the Egyptian-held strip of Sinai east of the Suez Canal. The strong points are located along a north-south axis but no attempt has been made yet to link them up, the sources said.
The sources also said that Israel has erected various fortifications in its zone facing the United Nations buffer zone, but they are not as elaborate as the Egyptian system of bunkers and trenches. According to U.S. sources, Israel’s main defense in Sinai now consists of three armored and two mechanized infantry brigades deployed along two key passes through a chain of hills about 20 miles from the Suez Canal. These brigades would be expected to hold an Egyptian attack until re-enforcements arrived, the sources said.
The sources claimed that major Egyptian forces comprising about seven divisions and four brigades of infantry and armor are deployed just west of the canal. The Egyptians were said to have about 20 Russian-built pontoon bridges ready to span the waterway, capable of moving the major elements of five divisions across the canal within six hours after opening an attack.
NEW WAR PLANES ON WAY TO EGYPT
Meanwhile, in a speech yesterday to student representatives in Alexandria. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat said Egypt would continue its good relations with the Soviet Union “but our eagerness to consolidate relations with the Big Powers does not mean that we should become aligned with any one of them.” Sadat’s remarks, reported in the semiofficial Cairo newspaper, Al Ahram, indicated a new emphasis on Egyptian independence from both superpowers.
He told the students that new war planes are on their way to Egypt, bought by “some friendly Arab states” to replace Egypt’s Yom Kippur War losses. He also said that Egypt was saved from near bankruptcy on the eve of the Oct. war by $500 million received from “our Arab brothers.” According a report of Sadat’s speech carried by the official Middle East News Agency, the President told the students, “The change in the attitude of the United States is our own doing through what we achieved in October and not just a casual change in the attitude of the President of the United States or its Secretary of State.”
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