News Brief

SYRIA SENDS FIGHTER PLANES OVER ISRAEL TERRITORY

Two Syrian fighter planes today violated Israel air space by flying over the southern end of Lake Tiberias in the Kinneret area, a military spokesman announced here. Israel immediately protested the action to the Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission.

The latest Syrian violation of the armistice agreement came less than 24 hours after the mixed commission yesterday recognized Israel sovereignty over all of Lake Tiberias and a strip of land ten metres wide (approximately 33 feet) on the eastern bank of the lake.

The commission, chaired by a United Nations truce observer, adopted a resolution calling upon the Syrians to stop interfering with Israelis fishing on the lake and also called on the Syrians to refrain from entering upon or crossing the ten-metre strip. The commission’s resolution was adopted after an 11-hour session.

With the chairman casting the decisive vote, the commission also censured Syria for opening fire yesterday on several Israeli fishing boats and an Israeli police boat, wounding three Israelis. The body also censured the Israelis for replying to the attack with gunfire, inflicting casualties among the Syrians on the east bank of the lake. The Syrian attack, in which small arms, machine guns and artillery were used, is the second in less than a week.

The Israeli border line, which was upheld by the commission, was originally set as the Syrian-Palestine frontier by Anglo-French agreement after World War I. During the meeting the UN chairman suggested a “compromise” under which the Israelis would agree not to fish too close to the eastern bank. This the Israelis rejected.

(In Washington, the Syrian Ambassador today called upon Assistant Secretary of State Henry A. Byroade and reported to him on the incident at Lake Tiberias. It was learned later from diplomatic sources that he claimed that heavily-armed Israel boats made “an unprovoked attack” against Syrian shore installations.)