Three Israeli soldiers, two of them officers, were killed Tuesday night in a bitter clash with terrorists on the slopes of Mt. Hermon in the eastern end of the south Lebanon security zone. One terrorist was wounded and captured. Another wounded terrorist escaped. The gang apparently was attempting to infiltrate Israel for sabotage and hostage-taking.
The Israel Defense Force identified the dead as Capt. Ishai Ronen Weizman of Moshav Maslul, Capt. Alexander Singer of Kibbutz Ein Tsurim, and Pvt. Camille Oren of Ramle.
Four Israeli soldiers were wounded, none seriously. They were evacuated to hospitals by helicopter.
The terrorists were identified as members of the Lebanon Liberation Opposition Front, an umbrella organization of leftwing and Communist Lebanese and Palestinians, trained and supported by Syria.
SURPRISED BY TERRORIST GANG
The clash occurred when an IDF patrol was surprised shortly after dark by the terrorist gang well concealed on the rocky mountain slopes. The Israeli casualties were sustained early in the fighting and depleted the patrol’s strength. But the patrol managed to hold off the enemy for a considerable time until reinforcements were landed by helicopter and the terrorists fled.
Helicopter gunships hovered over the region throughout the night, dropping flares. They were assisted by artillery firing luminescent shells. IDF commanders praised the patrol for fighting off the terrorists despite its losses. The unit is part of the crack Givati infantry brigade.
A wounded terrorist who escaped told reporters in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon later that a 15-man squad of Lebanese and Palestinians had set out on an operation against the “Zionist entity.” He said the Lebanese were members of the Communist Party and the Palestinians belonged to the rejectionist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group led by Jordanian renegade Nayef Hawatmeh.
Three terrorists were killed Tuesday night in an unrelated clash with units of the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA) in the western end of the security zone. One SLA soldier was slightly wounded.
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