Israeli Troops Storm Lebanese Village in Search of Guerrillas : 3 Homes Razed; French U.N. Forces Try to Intervene

Israeli troops stormed a Shia Muslim village in southern Lebanon today, bulldozed three homes of suspected guerrillas and got into a shoving match with French U.N. troops who tried to interfere in the operation, a U.N. spokesman said.

The Israeli army refused immediate comment.

A U.N. spokesman in southern Lebanon said one person was killed and another wounded in the village of Borj Rahal when 21 Israeli troop carriers and tanks entered today.

Timor Goksel, spokesman for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, said the Israelis entered Borj Rahal about 7 a.m., rounded up the men, bulldozed three homes and the community center, and gathered more than 150 people in the school for questioning. The Israelis left the village northeast of Tyre six hours later, he said.

Goksel said one man was fatally shot, but the circumstances were not known.

There were daylong arguments between the Israelis and the French unit of U.N. soldiers, Goksel said. He said one “strong argument” became a shoving match.

Pushing Around

“There was pushing around. That’s all,” Goksel said. “They forcibly removed the French by outnumbering them.” He said no shots were fired during the 15- to 20-minute altercation.

In another clash today along the Awali River, which divides Israeli-controlled south Lebanon from the rest of the country, Israeli troops killed 11 guerrillas and captured nine. The skirmish began when a 20-man guerrilla squad encountered an Israeli infantry unit, a military spokesman in Tel Aviv said.

Large quantities of weapons and explosives were found on the guerrillas, the Israeli spokesman said.

The incident followed mounting guerrilla attacks against Israeli troops in south Lebanon, and the spokesman said the guerrilla squad apparently had intended to operate within Israeli-controlled territory for a long period.

Elsewhere in southern Lebanon, guerrillas detonated another bomb on the road outside Sidon, 24 miles south of Beirut, which the Israelis have already relinquished despite their presence at the Awali a few miles to the north.

An Israeli mechanized patrol drove through Sidon with a dozen soldiers firing into the air.

A report by Beirut Radio said guerrillas fired at the Israeli patrol, but independent confirmation was not immediately available.