From: UPI
Subject: Lebanon guerrillas wound SLA militiaman
Reply-To: ayman@eecs.umich.edu
Organization: United Press International
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 19:11:03 GMT
X-Note: This article was automatically cross-posted to soc.culture.lebanon

[ Article cross-posted without permission ]
	SIDON, Lebanon (UPI) -- Israeli Air force jets raided suspected
positions of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in southern Lebanon Friday,
apparently in retaliation for a series of Hezbollah attacks on the pro-
Israeli South Lebanon Army militia, military and militia sources said.
	One SLA militiaman and three Hezbollah fighters were wounded. A woman
was killed and two other civilians were wounded in Israeli ground
bombardment.
	Two Israeli helicopter gunships attacked Hezbollah bases and hideouts
in the area of Jabal Safi and hills overlooking Mlita and Mlikh in the
Iqlim Al Toffah region, a cluster of Shiite villages, east of Sidon,
military sources said.
	Three Hezbollah guerrillas were wounded, the sources said. Witnesses
in Sidon said Israeli warplanes dropped flares over the city and the
nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Ein El Helweh.
	Simultaneously, Israeli heavy artillery blasted the outskirts of the
Shiite market town of Nabatiyeh, 33 miles south of Beirut.
	Shells also poured on the Iqlim Al Toffah villages, targeting Kfar
Roumman, Jarjou, Arab Salim, Mlita and Louweizeh, according to the
military sources.
	A woman was killed in Nabatiyeh and two civilians were wounded in
Kfar Roumman, they said.
	The Israeli air and ground bombardment came shortly after Hezbollah
guerrillas staged fresh attacks at dusk on SLA positions at the edge of
Israel's self-declared ``security zone.''
	A well-informed source of the Islamic Resistance Movement,
Hezbollah's military arm, said guerrillas attacked an SLA patrol and
observation posts in the hills of Beir Kallab, Radar and Swaidah, which
overlook the Iqlim Al Toffah region.
	``The attack hit a convoy of SLA cars passing in the area,'' the
source said. He said SLA commander Gen. Antoine Lahd was believed to be
in one of the cars. Military sources said Hezbollah suffered a number of
casualties.
	At midday, Hezbollah fighters attacked two SLA positions of the pro-
Israeli militia in the villages of Beit Yahoun and Baraachit at the edge
of Israel's self-declared ``security zone,'' east of the southern port
city of Tyre, an SLA officer said.
	The two Shiite villages are within the operation field of the Irish
battalion affiliated with the U.N. Interim Force in southern Lebanon,
UNIFIL.
	The SLA officer told the militia-run Voice of the South radio station
that the attackers used machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. One
SLA militiaman was wounded in the twin attack, the officer said. Israeli
artillery blasted in retaliation the vicinity of Baraachit, he said.
	A UNIFIL officer said 15 shells fell on Baraachit, causing material
damage.
	The Islamic Resistance movement, the military arm of the pro-Iranian
Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for the attack near Beit Yahoun.
	The Hezbollah-run Voice of the Light radio station said the Muslim
guerrillas attacked the Beit Yahoun position, using machine guns and
rocket-propelled grenades.
	``Our guerrillas scored direct hits in the position barricades and
installations,'' the radio said.
	Hezbollah and the Lebanese Resistance movement, made up of leftist
and more moderate Muslim groups, escalated attacks against Israeli
troops and their proxy SLA militia after Arab and Israeli negotiators
resumed peace talks in Washington early this week.
	The commander of the Israeli liaison unit, Gabi Ashkenazi,
accompanied by the commander of the eastern sector, Gen. Eli Aimtai,
Friday visited four wounded militiamen at the Majeyoun hospital inside
the border area.
	Ashkenazi told the militia-run Voice of the South radio station that
Israeli troops and the SLA cannot prevent guerrilla attacks and said his
forces will remain in the border area.
	``We will stay in the security zone until complete peace is achieved
with Lebanon and the SLA becomes part of the Lebanese Army,'' he said.
	Israel was to raise the fate of the SLA militia headed by Gen.
Antoine Lahd during the Lebanese-Israeli peace negotiations in
Washington.
	To the Beirut government, the SLA consists of outlawed gunmen who
collaborate with Lebanon's enemy. But Lebanese officials previously have
hinted that an agreement could be reached regarding the 2,500-member
militia.
	Israel has controlled the security zone since 1985 with the hope of
deterring cross-border guerrilla attacks.