Five Israel Defense Force soldiers were killed and a sixth was wounded Monday night in a clash with Palestinian terrorists in the southern Lebanon security zone.
Two terrorists were slain and two others escaped, one of them probably wounded.
The casualties were the worst inflicted on the IDF in recent months. They brought to 11 the number of Israeli fatalities in incidents along the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian borders during the past two weeks.
Israeli air force jets later pounded terrorist bases in southern Lebanon. George Habash’s pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine admitted participating in the skirmish.
But the targets of retaliation were members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, headed by Abu Nidal, and Nayef Hawatmeh’s Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, IDF sources said.
They said the aircraft encountered ground fire but returned safely to their bases.
Reports from Beirut said eight terrorists were killed in the raids, reportedly carried out by four Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers. The Israeli planes continued to fly over the area for some time, Beirut said.
IDF Chief of Staff Dan Shomron and Maj. Gen. Mattityahu Peled, commander of the northern region, said the ground and air activity was part of an ongoing policy to keep hitting the terrorists before they could mount assaults on Israel.
Defense Minister Moshe Arens confirmed the policy and said it would continue.
In Washington, the State Department deplored Tuesday’s incident and the Israeli response.
The department’s deputy spokesman, Richard Boucher, said it was “part of the tragic cycle of violence involving Israelis and Arabs, which leaves both sides in a state of insecurity and fear. We oppose all such violence and call upon all to take steps to stop it.”
MORE VIOLENCE EXPECTED
The IDF casualties occurred during a search and destroy mission.
Four of the soldiers killed Tuesday were identified as Roi Domb and Guy Tal, both staff sergeants, and Sgts. Admon Kadmon and Gad Minefeld. The fifth IDF fatality was not immediately identified. All were members of the crack Givati Brigade.
Their mission began as a pre-emptive search and destroy operation in the vicinity of the Lebanese village of Kafr Shabah on the north-western slopes of Mount Hermon.
The Givati patrol set up an ambush in Wadi Shabah, a narrow gully lined with rock-strewn walls that is frequently used as an infiltration route into Israel.
At about 11 p.m. local time, the soldiers spotted four armed men. They opened fire with automatic weapons at over 100 feet.
Two of the enemy were killed by the first volley. One who had been carrying explosives on his back literally blew up.
The Israeli soldiers made the fatal mistake of assuming that all four terrorists died in the blast. As they approached to examine the bodies, they were met with a hail of automatic fire and hand grenades thrown at close range.
Five soldiers were killed instantly. The sixth was wounded and evacuated by helicopter to a Haifa hospital, where he underwent surgery Tuesday evening.
The two surviving terrorists slipped away toward the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, which is under Syrian control.
Military sources said Tuesday they expected the escalation of terrorist activity from Lebanon to continue. They attributed this to the southward movement of terrorists from the Beirut area as Syrian influence increases in the Lebanese capital.
The various armed factions in Lebanon have stopped fighting each other for the time being and have vowed to increase their attacks on Israel, IDF sources said.
(JTA correspondent David Friedman in Washington contributed to this report.)
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