Israel Strikes at Abandoned Lebanon Base
Three Israeli warplanes today attacked an abandoned Palestinian guerrilla naval base outside this south Lebanon port city, police reported.
They said the jets fired 12 rockets at a one-story building formerly used as a training base by Yasser Arafat’s mainstream Fatah guerrilla faction.
In Israel, the army command also reported the raid, which it said was on a guerrilla headquarters. Pilots reported accurate hits and returned safely to base, the military communique said.
Lebanese police said the target at Darb el-Sim on the southern flank of Sidon’s Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp was destroyed along with a nearby bridge.
Police and Fatah officials said there were no casualties in the raid at 2:45 p.m. They said Fatah, the main guerrilla faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization, abandoned the base three months ago.
It was the seventh Israeli air raid on Lebanon this year and followed a clash eight days ago between guerrillas and Israeli troops in which one Israeli soldier was killed and another wounded.
According to official government policy, Israel will strike at guerrilla targets whenever it sees fit and not necessarily in retaliation for earlier attacks.
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