Israeli Copters Hit Palestinian Targets in South Lebanon
Israeli helicopter gunships shelled a Palestinian guerrilla base outside this southern Lebanese port Thursday, killing two guerrillas and wounding five, police reported.
Israel’s military command said pilots reported accurate hits on the targets south of Sidon, which is 25 miles south of Beirut and 37 miles north of the Israeli border. It was the ninth Israeli air attack in Lebanon this year.
Sidon police said 12 rockets fired by five attacking gunships destroyed a one-story building occupied by Fatah-Uprising, a faction that broke from the main Fatah guerrilla group led by Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Police said another rocket fired in the three-minute raid at 5:35 p.m. struck near a Lebanese government clinic in the Ein el Hilwa Palestinian refugee camp, the largest in Lebanon.
Another struck a security checkpoint at the camp’s main entrance and a third hit a military vehicle used by Fatah-Uprising, setting it afire, they reported.
Fatah-Uprising is backed by Syria and led by Col. Said Moussa, whose code name is Abu Moussa. Although he opposes Arafat, Abu Moussa’s fighters have helped PLO guerrillas fight Shia Muslim militiamen for control of refugee camps in Beirut and southern Lebanon.
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