Israeli Jets Bomb Guerrilla Bases Behind Syrian Lines

Israeli air force jets today mounted their first attack in Lebanon this year, bombing and strafing suspected Palestinian guerrilla bases in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa valley, Israel said.

The Israeli military command in Tel Aviv said the planes scored accurate hits on a command post used for staging anti-Israeli guerrilla attacks--near the town of al-Marj, 25 miles east of Beirut. The jets returned safely, the command added.

An Israeli army spokesman said the destroyed command post belonged to the Popular Struggle Front, a splinter Palestinian group allied with Syrian-backed factions that rebelled against Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Beirut’s Christian-controlled Voice of Lebanon radio said the jets struck at guerrilla bases around the towns of Bar-Elias and al-Marj behind Syrian lines in east Lebanon at 2:10 p.m.

The broadcast said Palestinian and Syrian gun emplacements fired anti-aircraft guns on the raiding jets, but no hits were reported.

In Beirut today, police said they have found no clue to the whereabouts of an American Catholic priest a day after his gunpoint abduction in the Muslim half of the city. There also were no clues to the shooting death of a French truce observer in Beirut.

The Rev. Lawrence Jenco, 50, a priest from Joliet, Ill., was pulled from his chauffeur-driven car Tuesday morning by at least six armed men.

Sources close to the investigation said a friend of Jenco had received a telephone call after the abduction indicating that the priest had not been harmed. One source, who refused to be identified, said that the caller “suggested that something would be asked” in exchange for the priest’s release.

Jenco is director of the Catholic Relief Services in Beirut. A spokeswoman for the agency in Beirut said Jenco needs medical treatment for a serious heart condition.