Syrian Troops Ordered to Fire on Israeli Forces; Determined to Hold El Hamma Position

Syrian troops yesterday received orders to fire on Israeli forces if they try to liberate El Hamma from Syrian occupation. The village El Hamma, on the Israeli-Syrian frontier, was invaded last week by Syrian soldiers who killed seven Israeli policemen there.

Thousands of students in Damascus paraded in the street yesterday calling for armed action against Israel, the Damascus correspondent of the London Daily Express reports. He says that the Syrian Premier Khalid el Azem told him last night that Syria is determined not to let Israel re-enter the village of Hamma. “If they will try, they will be fired on,” the Premier is quoted as stating.

At the sametime, the Syrian Premier expressed the belief that there will be no war between Israel and Syria. “We are confident that the U.N. Security Council will deal firmly with Israel. We have no intention of taking any action on our own,” he declared.

The London Times reports today from Tel Aviv that the U.S. Ambassador Monnett B. Davis, during his visit to the Israeli Foreign Ministry yesterday, expressed his Government’s hope that Israel will act with caution in the dispute with Syria, and that the Jewish state will handle frontier complaints through the appropriate United Nations agencies for such matters. Similar advice was given to the Syrian Government by the U.S. Minister to Damascus.

A Foreign Office spokesman today revealed that the British Government, through its diplomatic representatives in Tel Aviv and Damascus, has cautioned the Governments of Israel and Syria to exercise restraint and bring the Israeli-Syrian conflict to a peaceful end.