Reprisal raids on Lebanon by Israeli planes

Press, 7 June 1982, Page 1

Reprisal raids on Lebanon by Israeli planes

NZPA Beirut Israeli planes raided the Damour district 15 kilometres south of Lebanon's capital, early yesterday. The number of casualties is not known. The attack followed up two days of Israeli air raids that have reportedly killed' hundreds of people in Lebanon. The raids were in retaliation for the attempted assassination last Friday, of Israel's ambassador in London. The Palestinian news agency, Wafa, said that eight planes took part in the latest raid. Damour is populated almost entirely by Palestinian refugees, but there are Palestinian military positions on the hills overlooking the town. Israel appeared on the brink' of a full-scale war against the Palestinian guerrillas after the virtual breakdown of a year-long ceasefire along the Israeli-Leban-ese border. Diplomatic sources said that a,further escalation of the situation could lead to war. This had become a distinct possibility after the events of the last two days. On Saturday, the Israeli Air Force was in action for nine hours in what diplomatic sources said were raids of unprecedented intensity. The Palestinians have launched a fierce artillery barrage at Israeli border towns and villages which forced tens of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters. But only‘ one Israeli was killed. ■ Israel television said yesterday that the United States had not asked Israel either officially or unofficially, to refrain from launching a military campaign against the Palestinians. Three times already this year ■ Israel has been prepared for a full-scale land campaign against the guerrillas, but was held back each time by heavy American pressure.' The United States’ special envoy, Mr Philip Habib, is due in Israel today to try to negotiate a cease-fire agreement r ; ' Israeli officials said on Saturday, that his reception would be frosty. Israel had concluded that the cease-fire worked against its interests and in the guerrillas’ favour, one official said. He said the decision to renew the air strikes, was taken only after the guerrillas opened fire at Israeli population centres. The Israeli aircraft struck at Palestinian targets in spite of a call from the United Nations Security Council on Saturday evening

for a cease-fire, the Beirut radio said. The radio said that the Israelis had also shelled the southern village of Magdousheh, wounding many people. Israeli tanks were reported yesterday crossing the Lebanese border after jets, warships, and artillery had pounded a 50-mile stretch of coast in one of Israel’s most extensive assaults against the Palestinian guerrillas. A spokesman for the United Nations Interim Forces at Naqoura, in Southern Lebanon, said that Israeli tanks and artillery units moved across the border under cover of darkness on to a thin strip of land controlled by Israeli-backed Lebanese militias under the command of Major ' Saad Haddad. Israel made no comment on the report. The chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Yasser Arafat, attending a conference in-Saudi Arabia on the Iraqi-Iranian war, vowed that his guerrillas would “teach Israel a lesson.” Israeli officials vowed to liquidate the P.L.O. Lebanese police said that about 500 people had been killed or wounded •in Lebanon since Friday. In New York, the Security Council on Saturday evening called for a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanesebased Palestinian guerrillas amid fears that Israeli troops might be massing for a thrust into Southern Lebanon, according to a Reuter report. The council, in a unanimous vote, set a 6 a.m. Sunday deadline (local time) for a halt to all military activities within Lebanon and across the LebaneseIsraeli border. The Council’s resolution called on countries in a position to exert influence on the parties to help end the fighting. . 1

The Secretary-General, Mr Javier Perez de Cuellar, was given 48 hours to report back to the Council on the implementation of its cease-fire call.

Shortly before the council meeting, he made separate telephone calls to Israel’s United Nations’ representative, Mr Yehuda Blum, and the P.LO.’s deputy United Nations observer, Mr Hasan Abdel Rahman, asking both sides to stop the fighting. During the debate which followed ’ adoption of. the resolution, Ambassdor Ghassan Tuent, of Lebanon, told the council he had received word that a party of Israeli commandos had landed about two hours earlier on the coastal road between Sidon and Beirut and had machine-gunned cars and buses taking refugees north.

He said that the casualty toll over the last two days had exceeded 100. Britain’s Sir Anthony Parsons expressed regret at the attack on Mr Argov but said that it did not justify the raids carried out by the Israeli Air Force. He said that the police who had arrested the four men in connection with the assassination attempt found a list of names which included that of the P.L.O.’s London representative as well as Mr Argov. To page 4