Israeli Jets Hit Lebanon Militia Base : Radio Says Death Toll Could Reach 40 in Retaliation Raid

Israeli warplanes flattened a pro-Syrian Lebanese militia base today, killing more than 10 people in apparent retaliation for recent suicide bomb attacks against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

A spokesman for Lebanon’s civil defense corps said more than 10 bodies were removed from the rubble of a villa in the heart of the Bekaa Valley town of Chtoura, 22 miles east of Beirut. He declined to give further details.

Christian Voice of Lebanon radio quoted civil defense sources saying 23 dead were taken from the building and they feared that the final death toll might be as high as 40. At least 10 people were reported wounded in the air strike.

Party Headquarters

Police said the two-story building was the regional headquarters of the National Syrian Social Party.

Four Israeli jets gave air cover while two dived over the villa at 9:15 a.m., firing rockets and dropping bombs that smashed the roadside stone building into rubble, police said.

Only 15 minutes before the raid, all the militia’s leaders in the Bekaa Valley had filed into the building for a meeting. Christian Voice of Lebanon radio said one of the dead was the party’s defense chief but the report could not be immediately confirmed.

The National Syrian Social Party has claimed responsibility for several suicide attacks on Israeli troops in Lebanon. It advocates the creation of a “Greater Syria” to include Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, pre-1948 Palestine (now Israel) and Cyprus.

‘Accurate Hits’

In Israel, an army statement said pilots reported “accurate hits” on the building at Chtoura before returning safely to their bases.

Today’s air raid was Israel’s second into Lebanon this week, but it was the first Israeli air attack against Lebanese targets hostile to Israel. Israeli warplanes raided a Palestinian guerrilla base several miles south of Chtoura Sunday, killing an unknown number of people.

On July 10, Israel attacked two Palestinian bases less than 24 hours after twin suicide bombers hit minutes apart in the security zone, killing five Lebanese and wounding two Israelis.