Peres Defends Sweeps in South Lebanon

Prime Minister Shimon Peres on Sunday defended Israel’s anti-guerrilla raids on southern Lebanese villages, and a Cabinet spokesman said the sweeps will continue.

Peres addressed the weekly Cabinet meeting after Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin reported on five days of Israeli army raids on villages east of Tyre.

Cabinet Secretary Yossi Beilin said the operations were successful in suppressing anti-Israeli attacks and will go on.

By Israeli count, 14 suspected guerrillas have been killed, dozens arrested and an estimated 10 houses destroyed in raids that began Wednesday after a surge of ambushes directed against Israeli forces.

Can’t Accept Attacks

“Israel attempted to reach an agreement with the Lebanese government,” Beilin quoted Peres as saying, referring to the inconclusive military talks between Israel and Lebanon that ended in January.

“But since the agreement was not reached, it (Israel) cannot be expected to accept attacks on its people, based on the assumption that no reaction will be forthcoming,” Peres said, according to Beilin.

Israel invaded Lebanon in June, 1982, with the stated aim of ridding southern Lebanon of Palestinian guerrilla bases, and now is in the process of withdrawing its troops from that region.

2 More Soldiers Wounded

While the Cabinet was meeting, reports arrived from Lebanon that two Israeli soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb in the village of Jibjanine near Israel’s front line facing Syrian forces in eastern Lebanon.

Israeli military sources in Tel Aviv said they had no word on the Jibjanine report.

The Israeli sources said two other Israeli positions in southern Lebanon came under fire overnight, but no casualties were reported.

Beilin said Rabin’s report on the Israeli raids “implied (the policy) was a success” and would continue.

“It’s part of an ongoing process, not a separate action. . . . It is a process which has to continue,” Beilin said.

Police Minister Chaim Bar-Lev told reporters the operations are intended to prevent guerrillas from getting “established in any specific village in the area we are holding in Lebanon.”

‘A Clever Policy’

“I call it a clever policy,” he added.

Bar-Lev said Cabinet ministers may begin deliberating the timing for Israel’s second pullback from Lebanon “in a few days.”

Israel implemented the first stage of its three-phase withdrawal plan Feb. 16, pulling its troops back about 15 miles along the Mediterranean coast, from the Sidon area to the Tyre area.

Guerrillas have escalated their attacks on the Israelis since Jan. 14 when Peres’ Cabinet approved the three-step withdrawal plan.

Eleven Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon in the six weeks since the plan was approved. In comparison, three Israelis were killed in the seven weeks preceding the Cabinet decision.

The increased number and intensity of the attacks by Shia Muslims appears to be an effort to pressure Israel into stepping up its withdrawal.

The Israeli government has not announced a timetable for the second and third stages of the withdrawal, but Peres has said he expects to bring his army home by the end of summer.