Jubilant Israelis Pull Back in East Lebanon

Israeli troops, honking horns and jubilantly flinging green and red smoke grenades, today pulled out of positions opposite the Syrian army as part of Israel’s phased withdrawal from Lebanon.

The pullback from eastern Lebanon, including the Bekaa Valley, took the Israelis out of artillery range of the Syrian capital of Damascus and positions along the Syrian border with Lebanon. It moved the Israeli lines to nine miles north of Israel’s border in the east.

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, standing along the new Israeli line at Hasbayya, warned that Israel would fight terrorism by attacking all the way to Muslim West Beirut if necessary.

“Israel will maintain all freedom of action to attack any terrorist target in the sea, in West Beirut, in the Bekaa (Valley), wherever we will find it,” Rabin said.

Tyre Still Occupied

In the west, the Israelis have yet to evacuate the vital port city of Tyre. Israeli plans have called for redeploying to a line three miles north of Israel’s border in the west.

With the eastern pullout, the Israelis now occupy a strip varying from 15 miles wide in the west to nine miles in the east. In the final stage, which was approved Sunday by the government, the Israelis are expected to leave Tyre in the west.

The withdrawal, which took the greater part of a day, brought the Israelis the closest to their own border since the occupation began June 6, 1982. By June 1, the Israelis are supposed to leave entirely.

“Israel Defense Forces withdrew today from the Bekaa Valley, Lake Karoun, Barouk and Jezzine regions and redeployed in the eastern and central sectors,” the army announced.

June Completion Date

“The IDF is continuing in the withdrawal plan from Lebanon in accordance with the decision of the government with the general aim of completing the withdrawal by the beginning of June, 1985,” the communique said.

As the cloudless day broke, personnel carriers, tanks, jeeps and trucks began snaking southward, leaving areas where the biggest tank battles of the war were fought against Syrians.

When four 175-millimeter long-range guns that had brought Damascus within artillery range of the Israelis rolled by at 8 a.m., Israeli truck drivers honked their horns and blew their sirens.

Soldiers flung smoke grenades out of vehicles with Israeli flags fluttering from radio antennas, and the colored puffs plumed upward. An Israeli army spokesman called it “an act of joy.”

First in, Last out

But one truck in an ordnance unit bore a sign saying, “We were among the first, and three years later we were among the last.”

Helicopters dropped thousands of leaflets written in Arabic over the Druze village of Kawkaba in the southern Bekaa Valley, warning the population against supporting anti-Israeli guerrillas after the Israeli departure.