Israeli Troops Evacuate Series of Shia Towns

Israeli occupation troops moved closer to full withdrawal from Lebanon today, pulling out of a series of Shia Muslim towns and digging in closer to Israel’s northern border.

The Israeli army said troops left a 110-square-mile area in south-central Lebanon, including the Shia market town of Nabatiyeh and several villages north and west. The troops moved south to new positions along the Litani River, 18 miles north of Israel’s border.

The pullback to the new front lines was seen as part of an accelerated withdrawal that Israeli government and military officials, including Prime Minister Shimon Peres, have said will be completed by early to mid-June.

The area evacuated has been the scene of daily guerrilla attacks on the withdrawing Israelis, the latest occurring hours before the pullback. Two Soviet-made Katyusha rockets fell near an Israeli outpost, but no casualties were reported.

Copters Drop Leaflets

As the last tanks rumbled out, army helicopters dropped leaflets warning the area’s population of 60,000 that Israel will strike back hard if the attacks continue. More than 95% of the population is Shia.

“We are delighted to be leaving,” a base commander told reporters during the four-hour operation.

Bomb experts blew up installations that had not been dismantled, and an army tractor plowed up helicopter pads.

In Nabatiyeh, residents spilled into the streets to celebrate the departure of the occupation forces.

Lebanese reporters in the region said many of Nabatiyeh’s estimated population of 10,000 Shia Muslims chanted the Islamic battle cry of “Allahu akbar” (God is great).

Detention Camp Dismantled

An Israeli army spokesman said today’s withdrawal was made possible by last week’s dismantling of the Ansar detention camp, which had held 2,000 mostly Shia Muslim prisoners accused of launching guerrilla attacks on Israeli troops.

The spokesman said Israel today released 30 of the 1,200 Ansar prisoners whose transfer to Israel last week prompted charges from the State Department and International Red Cross that the Geneva Convention had been violated.

Elsewhere in Lebanon, one Israeli soldier was killed today and another was wounded when a mine exploded near an army vehicle north of Hasbayya, east of the evacuated area, Israel’s military command in Tel Aviv said. He was the 650th Israeli casualty in Lebanon.