From: ayman@eecs.umich.edu (Ayman I. Kayssi)
Subject: Violence engulfs southern Lebanon
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 09:03:22 EDT
Organization: The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

[ Article crossposted without permission ]
[ Author was UPI ]
[ Posted on Tue, 29 Sep 92 5:20:38 PDT ]

	SIDON, Lebanon (UPI) -- Israeli artillery pounded Shiite villages in
southern Lebanon Tuesday, evidently in retaliation for a series of
Muslim guerrilla attacks against Israeli positions inside the border
zone, security sources said.
	Two civilians, six gunmen and a United Nations peacekeeper were
killed in the attacks.
	Shells rained down on the villages of Baraachit, Tibnin, Aita Al
Jabal and Mejdel Selim, inside the operations field of the U.N. Interim
Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), east of the port city of Tyre, 46 miles south
of Beirut, the sources said.
	Villages in the Iqlim Al Toffah region, east of the southern port
city of Sidon, and hills overlooking the nearby market town of Nabatiyeh
also came under heavy bombardment, they added.
	Two civilians were killed, including a 45-year-old woman in
Baraachit, and nine others were wounded, the sources said.
	The Israeli bombardment evidently was in retaliation for a series of
attacks by Muslim guerrillas against positions of Israeli troops and
their proxy South Lebanon Army militia inside Israel's self-declared 
``security zone.''
	An SLA spokesman said a squad of the Islamic Resistance Movement, the
military arm of Hezbollah, attacked at dawn an SLA post in the village
of Rashaf at the edge of the security zone and controlled by UNIFIL's
Irish battalion.
	The Islamic Resistance claimed responsibility for the attack and said
``one of our squads stormed a joint Israeli-SLA position in hills
overlooking Rashaf, destroyed its fortifications and killed and wounded
all its members.''
	Israel Radio said two SLA militiamen were killed and two others were
wounded in the attack. The radio said four attackers were also killed
and a number of machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades
were later found near their bodies.
	The Islamic Resistance said in a communique that its guerrillas also
attacked nine Israeli and SLA positions in Hadatha, Swaida, Ali Taher
hills, Alman, Shumarieyh and Baraashit inside the border enclave.
	The comunique referred to ``violent confrontations'' which were
followed by a ``hysterical Israeli shelling on a number of southern
villages.''
	In a related incident, an Irish peacekeeper was killed and another
was wounded at a UNIFIL checkpoint in Jmaijeh near the village of
Tibnin, east of Tyre.
	UNIFIL spokesman Timor Goksel said ``the Irish peacekeepers closed
their checkpoints in the Jmijmeh area following shooting incidents in
UNIFIL's field of operations and the prevailing tension between the
resistance and Israeli troops.''
	``Gunmen tried to cross the checkpoint and when they failed they
opened fire on the peacekeepers,'' Goksel said. He added that a rocket-
propelled grenade hit the checkpoint, killing an Irish peacekeeper and
wounding another.
	A Hezbollah source denied that Muslim guerrillas attacked the Irish
post and said the Irish soldier was killed when an Israeli shell hit his
checkpoint.
	The source accused UNIFIL troops of obstructing the evacuation of
some 12 injured people from Baraachit to the Government-run hospital in
Tibnin.
	He said a 65-year-old woman succumbed to her wounds at a time Irish
soldiers opened fire on a car carrying injured people while trying to
cross the checkpoint.
	The killing of the Irish soldier Tuesday put the number of UNIFIL
troops slained since the force deployed in southern Lebanon April, 1978
to 187. Among them were some 20 Irish soldiers.
	The incident came at a time Irish Defense Minister Noel Dempsey, who
arrived in Lebanon on a three-day visit late Monday, was inpecting the
Irish battalion headquarters in Tibnin and attending a ceremony during
which UNIFIL commander Lars-Eric Whalgreen decorated 325 Irish soldiers
``for serving peace.''
	Whalgreen denounced the killing of the Irish soldier and said ``the
Irish battalion has paid the highest price'' in maintaining peace and
security since 1978.
	``We hope to put an end to the cycle of violence in southern Lebanon
and that all parties spare UNIFIL,'' he said.
	A Lebanese Army source said Israeli shelling hit Army barracks in
Tyre and Nabatiyeh, inflicting only material damage.
	The source said four 155 mm shells crashed in the city of Tyre,
prompting shops and schools to close down and residents to seek shelter
in basements.
	This was the first time in nearly two years that Israel targeted Tyre
with shelling.
	Whalgreen denounced the killing of the Irish soldier and said ``the
Irish battalion has paid the highest price'' in maintaining peace and
security since 1978.
	``We hope to put an end to the cycle of violence in southern Lebanon
and that all parties spare UNIFIL,'' he said.
	A Lebanese Army source said Israeli shelling hit Army barracks in
Tyre and Nabatiyeh, inflicting only material damage.
	The source said four 155 mm shells crashed in the city of Tyre,
prompting shops and schools to close down and residents to seek shelter
in basements.
	This was the first time in nearly two years that Israel targeted Tyre
with shelling.
	The source said the Islamic resistance attacks were ``the most
violent in two weeks, targeting a great number of Israeli and SLA
positions.''
	He linked the violence to the ongoing peace negotiations between
Israel and the Arabs in Washington.
	The Islamic Resistance has pledged to combat Israel until it
withdraws its troops from the security zone.
	Israel established the nine-mile security zone in 1985 to curb cross-
border guerrilla infiltration attempts.

--
Ayman I. Kayssi                               |    ayman@eecs.umich.edu
EECS Department                               +------------------------
University of Michigan                        |          (313) 764-8033