- Title: LEBANON: AFTERMATH OF ISRAELI ATTACK ON REFUGEE CAMPS NEAR SYRIAN FRONTIER.
- Date: 22nd February 1973
- Summary: 1. GV Tripoli 0.05 2. SV Crowd in camp 0.14 3. SV Crowd stand near rubble 0.19 4. SV PAN Wrecked buildings 0.26 5. Sv Wrecked food store 0.29 6. GV Debris 0.34 7. SV Children walk through wreckage 0.40 8. SV TILT DOWN Badly damaged classroom 0.45 9. SV Children playing near food store 0.51 10. SV People
- Embargoed: 9th March 1973 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Near Tripoli, Lebanon
- Country: Lebanon
- Reuters ID: LVA678NBTM3P89TKZKBO4YJFEK69
- Story Text: Palestinian Commandos and Israeli troops fought a house to house battle during an Israeli attack on two refugee camps in Northern Lebanon on Tuesday (20 February) night.
The Israelis landed from the sea to attack the sprawling Nahr Al-Barad Camp on the Mediterranean coast, and from helicopters at the smaller Al-Beddawi camp further to the south.
Eyewitnesses said Israeli troops clashed with a group of commandos on routine guard duty at Nahr Al-Bared. They said the commandos resisted but most of them were killed.
Fighting then continued outside the camp, which houses 11,000 people. A rations centre of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which looks after the Palestinian refugees, was hit by mortar fire. Several UNRWA classrooms in a nearby barracks were also damaged.
The Israelis also blew up several other buildings at both camps. One of the was a former "Rehydration and Nutrition Centre" which the commandos occupied since 1969 and which the Agency had been trying to recover ever since.
Lebanese Government reports said that 14 people were killed at one camp and 16 at the other.
SYNOPSIS: Near the Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli on Tuesday night, Israeli forces raided two Palestinian refugee camps. The Israeli Government claimed the camps were used for the training of Palestinian guerrillas.
Eyewitnesses said that the Palestinian Commandos in the camps fought back during the attack, but many were killed. Several buildings at each of the camps were destroyed.
A rations centre of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which looks after the Palestinian refugees, was destroyed by mortar fire. The Israelis made their headquarters at the local school which was also damaged during the fighting.
Most of the action took place at the Nahr Al-Bared camp which houses about 11,000 people. The Israeli troops also blew up a former "Rehydration and Nutrition Center "which the Palestinian commandos had occupied since 1969, and which the United Nations Agency had been trying to recover.
Israel claimed they blew up the headquarters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at El-Beddawi. Lebanese Government officials reported that 14 people were killed at one camp and 16 at the other. Palestinian guerrillas who survived the battle claimed the Israeli troops suffered about 30 casualties.
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