Israel hits Naameh again
Lebanon, Military, 10/21/1997

Israeli warplanes attacked Palestinian guerrilla bases near Beirut on Monday, the second such attack in three days, security sources said.

Two jets fired two air-to-surface missiles at the base of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, in the hills of the coastal village of Naameh, about 15 kilometers south of the Lebanese capital.

The sources said the missiles hit fortified underground tunnels at the base believed to store weapons, but caused no casualties.Israeli air strikes on the PFLP-GC base in Naameh are frequent. The last air assault was on October 17.

The PFLP-GC, headed by Ahmed Jibril, is opposed to the Middle East peace process and has occasionally taken part in attacks on Israeli forces occupying a border enclave in southern Lebanon.

The group is also allied with Hezbollah, or Party of God, which is fighting to oust Israeli troops and their allied militiamen from the southern border enclave they occupy since 1985.

On Sunday, Israeli troops shelled a Lebanese army outpost, wounding one soldier. Sergeant Mohammed Mahmoud Hussein was taken to a hospital in the southern market town of Nabatiyeh where doctors removed shrapnel from his head.

Israeli warplanes also attacked suspected guerrilla bases in the south, causing no casualties.

Also on Sunday, two people were killed when a roadside bomb exploded as they drove near the Christian town of Jezzine, security sources said.

A Lebanese man, Salim Risha, and an Egyptian man identified as Mahmoud, died instantly. There were conflicting reports as to whether they were members of the Israeli-allied South Lebanon Army militia. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the bomb explosion.

The monitoring committee of the April agreements is, meanwhile, meeting today in Nakura to discuss two complaints, one Lebanese and the other Israeli. Lebanon is complaining about Israeli attacks on civilian areas and injuries to two civilians after an Israeli raid in Mashghara. Israel, on the other hand, is complaining about the death of an Egyptian citizen in the explosion of the landmine that killed senior SLA agent Salim Reesha, near Jezzine.

Previous Stories:
  Israeli soldier killed, two wounded in south Lebanon   (10/20/1997)
  Israel raids Palestinian base near Beirut, injures civilian in South   (10/18/1997)
  Israeli jets attack Palestinains in Lebanon   (10/17/1997)

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