Israeli attack kills 7 militiamen

Press, 29 July 1987, Page 10

Israeli attack kills 7 militiamen

NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv

Israeli troops made their first reported seaborne raid on southern Lebanon since Israel’s 1982 invasion, killing at least seven Shi’ite Muslim militiamen yesterday, military sources said. They said several militiamen were also injured in the surprise attack 3km south of Sidon, outside Israel’s self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon. There were no Israeli casualties during the operation carried out under cover of helicopter gunships, 38km from the

Israeli border, they said. In Sidon, Lebanese security sources said the Israelis landed on the coast from missile boats and blew up two vehicles belonging to members of the Popular Liberation Army, a Lebanese militia usually allied with the Palestine Liberation Organisation. They said the Israelis may have been surprised by the P.L.A. patrol as they prepared to attack targets around the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh.

Military sources said the Army had obtained information that hundreds

of Palestinian guerrillas had set up bases in the Sidon area and were preparing to attack Israel. Asked if the Israeli troops had hit the wrong target, an Army spokesman replied, “For us it doesn’t make any difference. As long as we know this vehicle and these terrorists were aimed at attacking our border, this is a legitimate target.”

The attack was the second this month in which troops hit targets outside Israel’s buffer area. The “security zone” was established in June, 1985, after Israel withdrew the bulk of its troops

from Lebanon following a costly three-year occupation.

The Army spokesman denied the attack signalled any change in Israel’s military policy in Lebanon. He said: “We have used naval forces before in order to strike at terror targets. There is no type of escalation. This was part of the ongoing preventive measures we take in order to push the terrorists away from the security zone and keep them off balance.

“Our basic policy is maintaining our rigid defence on the border and

freedom of action over any part of Lebanon from where there is a terrorist threat. We will choose the time and place and method,” he added.

Ironically, the P.L.A. command echoed the Army spokesman’s words when it said in a statement from Lebanon: “We have received the message We know how to answer back in the place and time we choose.” The wooden coffins of three P.L.A. militiamen were carried in a funeral march through the shuttered streets of Sidon by hundreds of people chanting slogans.