From: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Subject: Violence engulfs southern Lebanon
Reply-To: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 14:17:00 GMT


> [ 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.
> 
> --

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