Israel Jets Defy Missiles on Lebanon Raid

Israeli warplanes on Monday struck what the military command here described as terrorist targets in the Syrian-controlled section of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, operating for the first time within range of SAM-2 missile batteries that sparked a war scare last winter when Syria deployed them.

The Israeli command said no missiles were fired at the warplanes, which attacked what were described as bases, just west of Baalbek, used by the breakaway Abu Moussa faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The Abu Moussa faction, which is backed by Syria and opposed to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, is said to have increased its activity in recent months along Israel’s northern border and in the occupied West Bank of the Jordan River.

‘No Immunity’ Anywhere

Monday’s air strike, in defiance of Israel’s most hostile and powerful Arab neighbor, was a demonstration that “there will be no immunity for any terrorist targets, no matter where they are,” a senior military source said.

It was the fourth Israeli air strike in Lebanon in the last month and the second in as many days. But it was the first in the Bekaa Valley since last Oct. 27.

In November, 1985, Israeli fighters shot down two Syrian planes in Syrian airspace, and Damascus moved high-altitude SAM-2s up to its border with Lebanon in a move that Jerusalem said at the time would “significantly” interfere with its freedom to maneuver in the airspace over Lebanon.

The United States quickly stepped in to try to calm the situation, and Israel rerouted its reconnaissance flights over Lebanon to take them out of the SAM-2s’ range. Syria pulled back some shorter-range mobile missiles it had deployed for a brief time in the Bekaa Valley, but it has kept the SAM-2s in place.

Talk of Imminent War

Tension between Damascus and Jerusalem has been high ever since, peaking last spring, when there was so much talk of imminent war that the Israeli government felt compelled to issue a statement that it had no intention of attacking Syria.

The Israeli military source hinted that the military tried to minimize the risk of provoking a wider clash Monday by sending its fighters in fast and low on a flight pattern that would present the most difficult possible target to the Syrian missiles.

“We never said that we couldn’t operate (within range of the Syrian missiles),” the Israeli source said, “just that it would be more difficult.

“We have claimed time and again, and we have announced time and again to the Syrians, that there will be no immunity for any terrorist targets, no matter where they are. And if Abu Moussa is perpetrating attacks, and if Abu Moussa is attempting to increase its pattern of activity . . . which it is trying to do, then clearly we will take the necessary action, not against the Syrians, but against the terrorists.”

Attack on Headquarters

The Israeli military command said its planes attacked a headquarters of the Abu Moussa group about six miles west of Baalbeck, near Ein el Suda. The target consisted of a group of buildings surrounded by a small wall, the statement said.

The second target was “several tents, vehicles, weapons and ammunition concentrations” of the Abu Moussa group, about four miles west of Baalbeck near Majdaloun.

Israel’s pilots reported “good hits” on their targets, according to the military’s announcement. There was no reference to casualties.

Three Reported Killed

The Christian Voice of Lebanon radio, broadcasting from southern Lebanon, said three people were killed and four wounded in the attack.

On Sunday, Israel said its planes attacked “terrorist sites” on the outskirts of the Ein el Hilwa and Miye ou Miye Palestinian refugee camps south of Sidon in southern Lebanon. It said that terrorists had mounted attacks on Israel from this area.

Military sources said Monday that the Abu Moussa group had claimed responsibility for four attacks in East Jerusalem last spring. An Israeli and a British citizen were killed in those incidents, and a German and an American tourist were wounded.