Palestinian terrorists in southern Lebanon have moved into positions evacuated by Lebanese army units in the Hatzbaya and Litani River regions and are taking over villages wholesale by occupying houses vacated by their inhabitants who have fled the region.
Israeli sources learned of these latest developments today from Lebanese farmers in the border region. The Lebanese army has never been very effective in the southern area of the country and with civil war raging in the north, the authority of the Beirut government is virtually nil there
SECURITY FORCES ON HIGH ALERT
Meanwhile, official circles have refused to comment on overseas press reports that the Israeli army was concentrating forces on the northern border. Army movements are classified information and are never commented on in military or government circles. But with the situation in Lebanon becoming more menacing daily. Israeli security forces have been put on a high alert.
A Syrian delegation is in Beirut trying to negotiate a cease-fire between the warring Moslem and Christian factions. But they are doing so as armored units of the Syrian commanded Palestine Liberation Army have been deployed in strategic areas of the country and the terrorist grip on the south has tightened. Israeli circles have expressed apprehension that a Syrian-arranged truce in the Lebanese civil war would open the way for Syrian army officers to enter Lebanon in the guise of cease-fire observers.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
