Israeli Jets Attack Palestinians in Lebanon; Beirut Airport Shelled

Israeli jets attacked Palestinian positions Friday in this Christian hill town overlooking the south Lebanon port of Sidon, and Christian militia gunfire shut down Beirut airport again.

Various reports on the Israeli raid put the death toll at four and 10, with one guerrilla missing and eight wounded. Thick black smoke billowed from the stricken guerrilla posts.

The raid was carried out by four Israeli-made Kfir jets while four U.S.-made F-16s flew cover overhead.

Direct hits reduced the front of the Virgin Mary Church to rubble and destroyed a primary school run by the Greek Catholic denomination to which most of the townspeople belong, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.

Reuters quoted the local commander of Fatah guerrillas, known by his code name Youssef, as saying that at least 11 rockets were fired at the church. He acknowledged, however, that his men had positions opposite the church. Fatah is led by Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Israel’s military command said its pilots reported good hits on Palestinian targets and returned safely from the raid, 30 miles north of the border. An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv described the targets as “bases for Palestinian terror organizations” and included “headquarters for terror acts.”

In Beirut, police said a barrage of shells struck the airport Friday for the second straight day and aviation authorities closed the facility indefinitely.

Police said 14 shells crashed into the runways five minutes after a Middle East Airlines Boeing 707 landed, but all 102 passengers and 24 crew members who arrived from Larnaca, Cyprus, sprinted to safety in the terminal as the shells burst around the aircraft.

A news photographer said the first shell hit as the passengers were departing. They ignored the bus waiting to take them to the terminal and “ran toward the building, some of them dropping bags and other personal affects,” the photographer said.

The plane was not damaged, but in Thursday’s bombardment, an unoccupied Middle East Airlines Boeing 707 was set afire and burned when it was hit by three artillery shells.

Airline officials declared the airport closed “pending the improvement of security conditions.” The airport is the nation’s only public air transport facility.

It had been closed for 30 hours following Thursday’s attack, and airline President Salim Salam had announced the resumption of operations only an hour before the jetliner arrived from Larnaca at 4:10 p.m.

No group asserted responsibility for the latest attack, but it occurred during an artillery duel between Muslim and Christian militias.

Christian forces denied any involvement in the attacks, but Justice Minister Nabih Berri’s Amal militia of Shia Muslims blamed the Lebanese Forces, the nation’s dominant Christian militia.