Tension and violence escalated in south Lebanon over the weekend amid a new flurry of Katyusha rocket attacks on Israel. Two soldiers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and one soldier of the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA) were killed in skirmishes with unidentified gangs.
A diplomatic row broke out between Israel and the Irish contingent of UNIFIL. And former Israeli Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan proposed that Israel reoccupy south Lebanon up the Litani River.
A number of Katyusha rockets were fired from north of the security zone Saturday, most of them falling short. At least one is believed to have exploded in Israel territory without causing casualties or damage. Israel Defense Force units spent all of Sunday searching both sides of the border for the impact points. They were hampered by rain and high winds.
But the rocket that burst in a Kiryat Shemona school yard Thursday, injuring three pupils and a teacher, was traced to the Lebanese village of Sharka, according to Uri Lubrani, Coordinator of Israeli Affairs in Lebanon.
Lubrani noted that Sharka was originally in the security zone but, at the request of the UN, was transferred, along with several other villages, to the Shiite Moslem militia, Amal, as a good will gesture. It was evacuated by the SLA and is now patrolled by Irish UNIFIL troops, Lubrani said.
SHARP RETORT FROM IRISH UNIFIL CHIEF
His remarks drew a sharp retort from the Irish UNIFIL commander who said he was asking the Foreign Ministry in Dublin to lodge a formal protest with Israel over “all the garbage being slung at us.”
Military sources here said Lubrani was not trying to cast aspersions on the Irish troops but was objecting to UNIFIL’s mandate which, according to the sources, prevented its units from taking adequate measures against terrorists operating in the areas it patrols.
UNIFIL CASUALTIES
A UNIFIL soldier from Fiji died Saturday of wounds he suffered the day before when armed men attacked his battalion headquarters near Zadikin village north of the security zone. Two Ghanaian soldiers were wounded Saturday when a roadblock at Majd el-Salim came under fire. One of the soldiers died later.
It appeared, meanwhile, that the casualties caused by the Katyusha explosion in Kiryat Shemona were more serious than originally reported. A school boy was admitted to a Safad hospital Friday for treatment of a shrapnel wound in his head. First reports from Kiryat Shemona said the only injuries sustained were from flying glass and a stampede to the bombshelter.
Gen. Eitan, who was Chief of Staff during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and is now a Knesset member for the ultra-nationalist Tehiya Party, told reporters Sunday that he would rather have the IDF back in Lebanon than risk the lives of Israeli children under the threat of rocket attacks. He said the best answer to Katyusha rockets was to extend the security zone northward to the Litani River.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
