Lebanon shelling ‘lsraeli’

Press, 21 December 1979, Page 6

Lebanon shelling ‘lsraeli’

NZPA-Reuter Beirut The southern Lebanon market town of Nabatiyeh has come under heavy shell- ! ing, and villagers have blamed it on Israel. ‘•Many houses were destroyed in the three-hour shelling that ended at one o’clock after midnight,” One villager said. ‘‘The shells came from deep inside Israel.” No casualty estimate was immediately available from the stricken area. However, a report from Israel said the shelling of Nabatiyeh and nearbv villages was mounted !by artillery gunners of Major Saad Haddad, an Is-

raeli-backed Lebanese Army renegade leader holding a lOkm-deep strip along the 94km border with Israel. Major Haddad was bent on preventing Iranian volunteers from joining Palestinian guerrillas in the areas his gunners shelled, that report said. Sixty more Iranian volunteer guerrillas flew to Damascus yesterday, but the question of whether Syria would allow them to join battle with Israel alongside Palestinian commandos in south Lebanon remained unanswered. The Lebanese Government, saying their presence could heighten tension, said it would not allow them in, and asked for Syria’s support. In Beirut, the Lebanese Foreigh Minister (Mr Fuad Butros) said contacts were continuing with Syria, adding: ‘T believe the Syrian Government will deal with the matter appropriately.’’ The Government-controlled Syrian media made no mention of the volunteers’ arrival. and there was no official comment