Israel Masses Troops on Lebanon Border : Forces Poised to Help Embattled Militia Repel Shias

Hundreds of Israeli troops massed at the ready along the northern border today, and an official said they would move into south Lebanon if needed to aid an Israeli-backed militia under attack from Shia Muslim guerrillas.

Residents of this tiny border town said they had not seen such a concentration of troops at the frontier since Israel pulled the bulk of its forces from Lebanon in June, 1985.

The official denied such action reflected a policy change. He said any operation would be aimed at “showing the Shias on the fringes of the security belt that it doesn’t pay to give shelter and support to Hezbollah.”

Access to Area Closed

(Telephoned reports to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, said Israel today closed all access to its self-designated “security zone” in south Lebanon amid reports the Israeli army was moving reinforcements for a crackdown on Shia guerrillas.

(The reports from the southern port city of Tyre and the Bekaa Valley town of Hasbaya in the foothills of Mt. Hermon said the area was closed to civilian traffic and declared off-limits for reporters from Israel and Lebanon alike.)

Israel has blamed Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed, Shia extremist organization, for attacks which killed five U.N. peacekeepers and at least 12 Israeli-allied Lebanese militiamen in the last six weeks.

Maj. Dag Leraand, a spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon, told reporters Israel has been bringing more equipment, including artillery, into south Lebanon since Thursday. He said the U.N. headquarters had received reports of an Israeli troop buildup.

Journalist Tours Canceled

Israeli army officials, who declined to be identified, said all tours for journalists into south Lebanon were canceled as of today until further notice.

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin has said Israel would not allow the 1,000-strong South Lebanon Army to crumble in the face of the guerrilla onslaught. He said Israel would back up the predominantly Christian force with helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery.

An Israeli officer said today that Iranian Revolutionary Guards have joined the Shia offensive against the U.N. peacekeepers and the South Lebanon Army. He did not elaborate.

The Haaretz daily reported today that Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been training Hezbollah militiamen in south Lebanon.

Iranians Not in Fighting

The paper said the Iranian guards, a paramilitary organization whose mission is to spread Iran’s Islamic revolution, arrived in the Syrian-controlled part of Lebanon soon after Israeli troops invaded that country in June, 1982.

But the paper said the Iranians have not actually taken part in the recent fighting.

Defense Minister Rabin told reporters Sunday that Israel’s assistance to the South Lebanon Army militia was meant “to absolutely break these (guerrilla) attacks by inflicting large casualties” on Shia fighters.

The latest rocket attack in south Lebanon on Saturday wounded three Israeli soldiers, the Israeli military command said. The attack occurred in the Israeli-occupied buffer zone that stretches 6 to 10 miles deep north of the international border and is meant to prevent guerrillas from attacking Israel.