Three Egyptian Commandos Reported Killed by Israelis While Trying to Ford Suez Canal

At least three Egyptian commandos were believed to have been killed last night while trying to cross the Suez Canada Israeli officials reported. An Israeli patrol spotted the boat which the raiders were using in an apparent attempt to land on the canal’s east bank. The patrol opened fire and later three bodies were seen floating in the water. The incident occurred at the northern shore of the Great Bitter Lake. The officials said that commandos are equipped with life jackets which keep them afloat when they land in the water. They reported also that commando boats are linked to shore by a rope which makes it possible to pull the boat back after it is hit. There were heavy exchanges of fire at the Suez Canal yesterday and today.

In other military action, Israeli planes today attacked an El Fatah base in southern Jordan, and all returned to base safely, a military spokesman said. Five Arab saboteurs were killed and six captured in separate encounters with Israeli patrols in the Araba region in the south. A Druze was killed in one of the clashes.

On the Jordanian front, 20 81-millimeter mortar shells were fired this morning at an Israeli patrol near Ashdod Yaacov in the northern Beisan Valley. The attack came from a Jordanian position after the patrol fired at a saboteurs’ unit across the Jordan River. Another patrol came under Jordanian fire near Beth Yosef. The patrol shot back. There were no casualties in either patrol.

Meanwhile, Arab fought Arab in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese Army launched an all-out offensive against Syrian-supported guerrilla forces who rejected a Beirut high command ultimatum to get out of the sensitive border region. Israeli sources keeping a close watch on the hot northern border said the Lebanese troops apparently went into action when the al-Saiqa (Thunderbolt) organization responded the ultimatum by attacking an Army base with mortars and small arms. Several thousand guerrillas were said to be concentrated in the area.

Beirut told the guerrillas to get out after a series of clashes between commandos and Lebanese troops near Israel. Lebanon does not want guerrilla activity from its territory for fear of Israeli reprisals. It has sought to maintain a neutral stance in the Mideast conflict. The country’s politics have been profoundly targeted in the past two weeks by demands by Palestinian Arab refugees and students for a more aggression anti-Israel policy. Street clashes last month led to the fall of the Government of Premier Ramiz Karami. It has not yet been replaced.

The Lebanese Army reaction was the first time an Arab country has officially and publicly moved against guerrillas. Tensions have been rife between guerrillas and King Hussein’s force in Jordan, and Israeli observers said that the Beirut move might lead other Arab governments to act against guerrillas. The pro-Egyptian Beirut newspaper Al-Shaab urged a Lebanon-Syria summit session to resolve the dispute.

In another development, a 33-year-old Nablus dentist, Feisal Kanaan, was deported to Jordan yesterday after repeated warnings to stop incitements to civil unrest as a member of a subversive organization. The dentist, a cousin of Mayor Hamdi Kanaan of Nablus, was taken to the Allenby Bridge of the Jordan River after consistently ignoring the warnings, officials said.