Israeli Jets Attack Militia Posts in Lebanon; 5 Killed

Israeli jets pounded Lebanese militia positions in Lebanon on Friday, killing at least five people and wounding 13, security sources said.

In two successive raids, three Israeli warplanes, protected by two others, fired eight rockets at positions of the Lebanese Sunni Muslim Popular Liberation Army (PLA) which controls Sidon, 25 miles south of Beirut.

The PLA said the raids were aimed at its military positions in an attempt to destroy them but also hit densely populated residential areas. Rescuers pulled at least four soldiers from under the rubble of a two-story building hit in the raid, an army statement said.

Israeli drones carrying out post-raid reconnaissance flights over the bombed area met a hail of anti-aircraft fire from militia positions.

First Attack on PLA

The attack was the first by Israeli jets this year on PLA positions. They normally target Palestinian strongholds in the area. The PLA controls Sidon while Palestinian guerrillas command refugee camps and other bases southeast of the city.

In Beirut, meanwhile, battles between rival Shia Muslim militias burst out in the city’s southern slums with the thunder of cannon and rocket fire.

Fighting pitted the mainstream Shia Amal militia against the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, or Party of God. Police said at least 10 people were killed and 20 wounded, most of them civilians, since fighting began Thursday evening.

Foothold Regained

Amal lost most of the southern suburbs and Muslim West Beirut to a Hezbollah onslaught in May, but an Amal spokesman said Friday that the latest round of fighting has strengthened Amal’s foothold back in West Beirut.

“Hezbollah’s presence in West Beirut has almost finished. They still have some pockets in certain neighborhoods, but we will crush them soon,” an Amal spokesman said.

Commanders of Syrian army units in charge of security in Muslim West and South Beirut ordered a cease-fire to begin Friday night.

“Fighting ebbed in the city, but clashes persisted in the slums after the latest truce was called,” a police spokesman said.

“Both sides are massing fighters and fortifying their positions,” he said.