Two Israeli Soldiers Killed, Two Wounded in Lebanon Ambush Attack

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and two were slightly wounded in an ambush attack in the central sector of Lebanon yesterday. It was the second attack in two days against Israeli troops in Lebanon by terrorists riding in private cars.

An army spokesman said yesterday’s incident occurred in the area of Al-Zahlata, one of the northernmost points patrolled by Israeli soldiers, when a jeep and a command car passed a civilian vehicle parked at the side of the road. The vehicle appeared to have broken down.

As the Israelis passed, two passengers standing near, the open hood of the car pulled out guns and opened fire, hitting the command car. By the time the soldiers in the jeep were in position to return fire, the attackers had fled.

Earlier this week, three terrorists trying to attack an Israeli roadblock were killed by the soldiers manning it. An army spokesman denied reports from Beirut that the Israelis had opened fire on an “innocent Lebanese civilian vehicle.” He said the attackers had fired Kalachnikov rifles at the roadblock.

Meanwhile, Labor MK Gad Yacobi has called on the government to order an immediate pullback in Lebanon to the proposed 40-kilometer security line. He said there was no reason to continue to pay the high price in soldiers’ lives by the Israeli presence north of the security line. The peace treaty with Lebanon which the Israeli presence at the gates of Beirut is meant to achieve can never be brought about, Yacobi said.

In a related development, the Yesh Gvul (There’s a Limit) movement told a press conference here yesterday that 21 Israeli soldiers had been sentenced to prison by military courts since the Lebanon war started, for refusing to serve in Lebanon. The movement, which opposed the war, says it has some 1,500 members, all of them reserve soldiers. Some have also refused to serve on the West Bank.