ISRAEL: ISRAELI TROOPS KEEP CONSTANT WATCH FOR GUERRILLA MOVEMENTS ALONG BORDER WITH LEBANON.

Record ID: 399286

  • Title: ISRAEL: ISRAELI TROOPS KEEP CONSTANT WATCH FOR GUERRILLA MOVEMENTS ALONG BORDER WITH LEBANON.
  • Date: 5th February 1976
  • Summary: 1. GV Lebanese coast-line 0.06 2. SV Sign at Lebanese/Israeli border PAN TO people walking to border post 0.16 3. MV PAN Troops on coastline 0.26 4. SCU PULL BACK TO MV Sign on frontier with barbed wire 0.32 5. GV Deserted road across border 0.35 6. SV Armoured car 0.40 7. CU Soldier with machine gun on back 0.45 8. S
  • Embargoed: 20th February 1976 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NORTHERN BORDER FROM ROSH HANIKRA TO METULLA, ISRAEL
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVAB4I7TB42NRE9IKYJCQ43BKIXH
  • Story Text: Israeli troops are on full alert at all points along the border with Lebanon, scanning the windswept hills and gullies of southern Lebanon for guerrilla movements.

    On Tuesday (3 February) Israeli troops fired mortar shells five kilometres (3 miles) into Lebanese territory to head off possible Arab guerrilla attacks. Officers told newsmen on a tour of the border area that they had spotted movement of what they believed to be Arab guerrillas across the border.

    Smoke and dust rose from the hilltop across the valley where the shells struck, but there was no indication the shells had found a target.

    The demonstration of Israeli firepower came with border settlers deeply concerned at the danger of increased guerrilla raids, following the abandonment by the Lebanese Army of border posts from which it curtailed actions against Israel.

    Israeli officers told reporters that Lebanese soldiers had left every single border post to head north towards the capital during the recent civil strife.

    The colonel in charge of one sector of the mountainous northern front said: "There is no control of any forces on their side of the border any more".

    Border settlements have been harassed for years by guerrilla groups and there are fears of a vacuum developing on the Lebanese side of the border in which Palestinian attacks could multiply.

    The boundary fence of barbed wire and electronic warning devices stretches 160 kilometres (100 miles) across the hills from the Mediterranean cost to snow-capped Mount Hermon.

    On one point of the border at Rosh Hanikra, Israel has promised to allow entry to any Lebanese Christian or Druze refugees, but not Muslims. So far, however, there have been no refugees crossing there.

    SYNOPSIS: At one point along the one hundred and sixty mile long Israeli border with lebanon, refugees are allowed to pass. This is at Rosh Hanikra where newsmen were recently taken on a tour to observe border security. Israel has promised that any Lebanese Christian or Druze refugees can cross the border -- but not Muslims. So far, no-one has taken up the offer.

    Since the recent civil strife in Lebanon, every Lebanese border post has been abandoned as soldiers have headed towards the capital, beirut. Israel is now worried that the vacuum left across the border will encourage increased Palestinian guerrilla activity.

    Israeli troops are on full alert along the entire border which is marked by razor sharp barbed wire fences and electronic warning devices. The border stretches across the hills from the Mediterranean coast to snow-capped Mount Hermon.

    On Tuesday Israeli troops fired mortar shells into the Lebanese territory to head off possible Arab guerrilla attacks. They call his "harassment fire" to ward off any possible raids across the Israeli border.
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