Israeli Warplanes Attack Guerrillas in South Lebanon

Israeli jet fighters attacked Palestinian guerrillas and allied pro-Iraqi Lebanese militiamen in south Lebanon today, killing eight people and wounding 28, police said.

Seven of the dead and 22 of the wounded were guerrillas from Yasser Arafat’s mainstream Fatah faction, the largest of nine groups making up the Palestine Liberation Organization.

A police spokesman also said one civilian was killed and six others wounded in Israel’s second raid into Lebanon this year.

Six warplanes unleashed 30 rockets or bombs on targets in seven villages in Iqlil al-Tuffah, or Apple province, east and southeast of Sidon during the 20-minute midmorning raid, the spokesman said.

The planes hit Fatah bases and positions and rocketed a single-story house used as an office by the pro-Iraqi Arab Baath Socialist Party in Baisour, a village east of Sidon, he said. There were no casualties in the leveled office because it had been evacuated two days ago.

The warplanes dropped scarlet balloons to deflect heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles fired by guerrilla defenders, who also opened fire with twin-barrel 23-millimeter anti-aircraft guns.

At least three shoulder-fired Soviet-designed SA-7 missiles missed the jets and exploded overhead in white puffs of smoke.

In Jerusalem, Israel said all its planes returned safely.

The jets hit the area used by Palestinian guerrillas last week to launch a series of rocket attacks against Israel’s self-proclaimed “security zone” in south Lebanon.

There were no casualties, but Israel pledged to retaliate.

Israel uses the 440-square-mile zone as a buffer to absorb cross-border guerrilla infiltration attempts into its northern settlements.