Israeli sources confirmed today that Syria is pulling its forces out of Nabatiyeh village and its surroundings in southern Lebanon. The Syrian armored battalion consisting of 10 tanks and about 500 soldiers had occupied the region for several weeks. Its advance guard has already left Tibnit village south of Nabatiyeh, the point closest to Israel’s border, the sources reported.
The Syrians are expected to re-group at Aisha village, north of Nabatiyeh, within the next two days, about the time U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance arrives in the Middle East, the sources said. Aisha is 18 kilometers from Israel’s border. Nabatiyeh is 15 kilometers distant.
The three kilometer difference is negligible in terms of military deployment but represents a pull-back from the “red line,” the point beyond which Israel has said it would not permit a non-Lebanese army. Israel’s credibility will thus be restored and the Syrian presence around Aisha will be, in effect, with Israel’s consent.
Meanwhile, an Israeli patrol came under bazooka fire near the Lebanese border Friday night, a military spokesman disclosed today. The fire was returned. There were no Israeli casualties. The spokesman said the attack originated in Mais-Al-Jabal, a Moslem village in southern Lebanon. The rockets landed between Kibbutz Iftah and Kibbutz Manara.
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