Israeli raid kills 34

Press, 13 March 1985, Page 11

Israeli raid kills 34

NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv Israeli troops, mounting their biggest raid in south Lebanon this year, killed 34 people, arrested dozens of others, and blew up 11 houses in the Shi’ite Muslim village of Zrariyeh. The Army said that it had found hundreds of kilos of explosives in house-to-house searches yesterday in the village, a kilometre from its front line. The blown-up houses had contained large caches. The Israelis had arrested 20 Lebanese Army soldiers for “interfering” with the operation and would release them after an inquiry, the Army said.

Israeli soldiers killed 34 guerrillas and wounded seven others who tried to flee from the village, some

of them in cars loaded with explosives, said an official communique. The raid was launched as Israeli leaders vowed to hit back hard against guerrillas after 12 Israelis were killed and 14 wounded in a suicide car-bomb attack at the Lebanese border on Monday.

But the Israeli Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Moshe Levi, said that yesterday’s raid was not to avenge the border carbombing. “There were a number of attacks on our forces and shooting incidents from that area. We had information that forces there were planning to attack us,” he, said. Israel last month began an “iron fist” policy against Shi’ites in Lebanon, whom it blames for increasing at-

tacks on its soldiers. General Levi said that the Army would reduce its movements and use small foot-patrols to try to avoid high Israeli casualties. The border car-bombing,

the worst attack on Israeli troops in 16 months, raised calls from Leftists for a speedier Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. But Rightists said that the pull-back would make it easier for guerrillas to attack Israel. The Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, visiting the wounded in hospital, said that Israel would stick to its schedule for a staged pullback from Lebanon, expected to be completed by late (northern) summer.

“We shall bring our boys according to our plan. We shall never submit to the pressures of terror of people who will try to impose upon us a plan that is contrary to our judgments,” he said. The raid on Zrariyeh was “to make clear that we are not going to submit to terrorists and their threats.”