Israeli Planes Bomb PLO Bases in Bekaa Valley
Israeli warplanes on Sunday pounded two Palestinian bases in a Syrian-controlled section of Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, officials in Beirut said.
Police said that reports from the area said two Israeli planes dropped bombs and fired rockets on one base near Taanayel on the Beirut-Damascus highway and another near the village of Deir Zanoun.
Two aircraft provided air cover while the other two bombed their targets, a police spokesman said.
“We have no casualty or damage reports yet,” he added.
Both Taanayel and Deir Zanoun are about two miles from the town of Bar Elias.
In Tel Aviv, an Israeli military spokesman confirmed the raid and said the bases were used by a pro-Syrian faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The spokesman said one of the bases contained tanks, vehicles and a weapons dump. He said that all the pilots returned safely and reported “good hits” on eight two-story buildings.
Six of the buildings were about two miles east of Bar Elias, the spokesman said. The other two were about two miles northwest of Bar Elias.
Israel’s raid Sunday was its first air strike since the bombing of PLO headquarters in Tunis on Oct. 1.
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