Report Plans to Pull Back IDF Troops from Lebanon

Plans which would enable an Israel Defense Force pullback from Lebanon within six to eight weeks have been drawn up by senior officers serving in south Lebanon, it was reported yesterday by Israel Radio.

According to the report, the plans by unnamed of ficers had been submitted to the government, but no action was taken. The withdrawal plans would ensure the continued safety of Galilee after the IDF pulls back to the Israeli side of the border in four stages, but would retain a number of strategic positions on the hills over looking the coastal road.

Nachman Shai, Defense Minister Moshe Aren’s media adviser, the IDF spokesman, and other senior officers denied the existence of any withdrawal plans. The IDF spokesman also said that any plans for withdrawal would have to be drawn up by the army’s general headquarters and not by officers in Lebanon.

But Likud spokesmen, ignoring the denials, demanded that those who leaked such secret information should be punished. This demand only complicated the situation since it evoked speculation that a withdrawal plan did in fact exist.

SOLDIERS SKEPTICAL ABOUT PLANS

Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, interviewed by Israel Radio, expressed skepticism about withdrawal plans. Some noted that the politicians were “too busy arguing in Jerusalem’s King David Hotel to concern themselves with any Lebanon withdrawal. “This was a reference to the meetings between Labor Party and Likud leaders to discuss the formation of a new government. Other soldiers said the main effort in Lebanon now was directed at self-defense, rather than in securing the defense of the Galilee.

Spokesmen for the smaller political parties to the left of the Labor Alignment have called for a “full airing” of the withdrawal plans and the government’s failure to discuss or implement them until the negotiations for a new government are completed.

Meanwhile, two Israeli soldiers were wounded in south Lebanon today when an explosive charge was set off on the side of a road east of Sidon as their patrol passed by. The injured men were flown by helicopter to the Rambam Hospital in Haifa.