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Syrian-backed Group Sent Infiltrators

April 24, 1991
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The Syrian-backed Abu Musa terrorist group on Tuesday took credit for an infiltration incident Sunday night, in which two armed men crossed over the border from Lebanon into Israel on a hostage-taking mission.

The pair were killed in a brief gun battle with Israel Defense Force troops about two miles from Kibbutz Dan in Upper Galilee, which might have been their target.

The Abu Musa group, also known as Fatah Uprising, is a breakaway faction of Al Fatah, the largest element of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The renegade group said it would continue attacking “until Israel withdraws from all Arab lands.”

There was speculation Tuesday in Lebanon that the incident might have been a “rogue operation” intended to sour U.S.-Syrian relations on the eve of Secretary of State James Baker’s visit to Damascus on Monday night.

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