International Israelis leave Lebanese border to Rightist allies

Press, 14 June 1978, Page 8

International Israelis leave Lebanese border to Rightist allies

NZPA-Reuter Beirut United Nations peace-keeping troops were due to move into the volatile border of southern Lebanon late yesterday, uncertain of whether they would meet resistance from Right-wing gunmen.

The United Nations force was supposed to replace withdrawing Israeli troops, but Western diplomatic sources in Beirut said that the Israelis had already handed over most of their positions to Right-wing Lebanese militiamen. The sources said all the main Israeli battle units pulled back on Sunday, leaving many sectors in the control of mainly-Christian irregular forces. The sources said that Western diplomats believed Israel was trying to retain control over the area through its alliance with the Rightists. The militia groups estimated at about 600 men, have received strong Israeli military support in their long and bitter struggle against Palestinian guerrillas in the region. They are commanded by | Major Saad Haddad, a Lebanese officer who acts independently of the Army command to which he is nominally responsible. They said that United Nations officials had urgent talks with Lebanese Government officials late on Monday night, but there was

: still no firm guarantee that, ; the United Nations troops would be allowed to deploy : along the border. United ; Nations commanders will i also meet the Israeli Defence : Minister (Mr Ezgr Weizman) to discuss the problem. The Beirut sources said • that many Israelis remained i in a 10km deep belt, stretch- • ing from the Mediterranean ■ to the foothills of Mount . Hermon, but they were expected to withdraw on t schedule. I One senior Beirut diplo= i mat said the United Nations . command had been seeking > clarification from the Lebanese Government on the . status of the Christian mi- , litia for some time, but the i latest Israeli move had now • made this imperative. • “There is still no firm i guarantee that U.N.1.F.1.L. (United Nations Interr national Force in Lebanon) - will take complete control of ■ the south today,” he said. In the three earlier phases • of the withdrawal since the invasion 91 days ago Israeli 1 forces have handed over t their positions to United ■ Nations commanders. Some Israeli officials said > on Monday that the feeling

:,was that as Israel had never) ; in fact occupied Christian i ' enclaves in the area, they I could not hand them over to 1 the United Nations forces. i An alliance of radical ; i guerrilla groups raised the threat of further trouble for I the United Nations troops I on Monday night when it ■ demanded that they withi draw from a Palestinian ; stronghold in the south. The Rejection Front, i composed of hard-line groups, said it would resort ■■ to “all possible means” to make United Nations ; officers leave Beaufort ■ Castle. > Two Norwegian soldiers • entered the castle at the : week-end to act as liaison ■ officers, after permission had been given by the Palesi tinian leader, Yasser Arafat. The ancient fortress, • which dominates the north- ) ern banks of the Litani j River, is outside the area designated to come under ! United Nations control. > The Israeli Defence Minisi ter told the Foreign Affairs ■ and Security Committee of I the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) on Monday night that I some 300 guerrillas had al5 ready filtered back into the;

region now controlled by the United Nations. The Israeli raid on a guerrilla naval base in Lebanon over the week-end and an abortive Palestinian guerrilla raid on Mehulla village in the Jordan Valley on the occupied West Bank were : forceful reminders that no immediate end to the smouldering hostilities could be expected after the Israeli pull-back. The Mehulla raid on Sunday night failed when residents of the village, who sleep with sub-machine guns under their beds, shot one attacker and drove three others off, apparently back : across the Jordan River. Summing up Israel’s i three-month occupation, Is- ■ raeli military experts said the Palestinian , guerrillas’ fighting potential had been severely : damaged and much of their i military infrastructure had ■ been destroyed. The experts added that the once scattered Lebanese Christian enclaves along the border had been linked up and Christian forces estab- ; lished on most of the commanding ground in the sens sitive southern region.