Jbaa, Wednesday
HUNDREDS of villagers fled their frontline homes in south Lebanon
today as Israeli forces and pro-Iranian guerrillas went on alert
following the worst round of fighting in five months.
Witnesses said villages in the Iqlim al-Toufah region, a mountainous
ridge held by Hizbollah guerrillas, were deserted and shops closed as
the thud of explosions from sporadic Israeli shelling rocked the area.
The only movement on the tiny roads of the ridge was that of bearded
Hizbollah guerrillas who went on alert after Israeli warplanes launched
three air raids on their positions in the area yesterday, killing three
fighters and wounding three.
The 1,000 residents of the Hizbollah-held Ain el-Tineh village facing
Israeli lines on the southern edge of the Bekaa Valley also left their
homes and drove to safer areas.
Security sources inside Israel's security zone in south Lebanon said
Israeli forces and their surrogate South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia were
also in a state of high alert.
Hizbollah guerrillas firing machineguns, rockets and mortar bombs
attacked 15 Israeli and SLA positions on the edge of the 15km (nine
mile) deep zone overnight and this morning.
The Israeli soldiers returned fire and pounded a string of
Hizbollah-held villages in Iqlim al-Toufah and the southern tip of the
Bekaa Valley, security sources said.
The intensity of the latest attacks by Hizbollah (Party of God) was in
revenge for the Israeli air raids and appeared also part of a campaign
to derail the Arab-Israeli peace process.
Hizbollah guerrillas fired some 80 Katyusha rockets into the buffer
strip yesterday and early today as Israeli and SLA gunners lobbed scores
of heavy shells into the outskirts of 15 villages where Hizbollah
guerrillas were active.
Two women were wounded by the Israeli shelling in the village of Kfar
Roumman, but there were no reports of casualties from the fighting. A
Hizbollah statement said ''the enemy'' suffered many dead or wounded.
The latest round of violence was the worst on the most explosive Arab
frontline with Israel since a seven-day Israeli air and artillery
campaign last July.
Syria today rejected an Israeli call for it to stop guerrillas
attacking Israeli troops in south Lebanon.
Resistance against occupation was legitimate, the official daily
al-Baath said.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, speaking after the guerrillas
hit Israeli positions in south lebanon on Tuesday, said Syria was not
doing enough to stop the attacks.
He also said Syria was flouting an agreement reached after Israel's
massive July bombardment.--Reuter.
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