Hizbullah assaults returned

Hizbullah guerrillas on September 3 staged three assaults on Israeli positions in the occupied zone which were matched by the bombardment of areas facing the zone by Israeli artillery.

A unit attacked Israeli armored vehicles near Aaroush at dawn. Two hours later another force mounted two assaults on Israeli positions at Salaa in the western sector of the zone and near Talloussa in the central sector. No casualties were reported.

Earlier, Israeli artillery targeted Joweish in the Iqlim Al Touffah, damaging one house and wrecking a pumping station that provides water to the village of Nabnaael Tasa.

In the afternoon, the villages of East and West Zawtar, Froun, Qaaqaiet al Jisr and Mazrnaatel Hamra were bombarded. No casualties were reported.

Israeli warplanes staged several mock raids during the day over the Iqlim al Touffah and Nabatieh.

Elsewhere on September 3, the St Rouzouk group of Jezzine notables in its weekly meeting praised Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir and the head of higher Shiite council Sheikh Mohammed Mahdi Shamseddine, for their declarations of support for Jezzine's residents. They also called on the government to reopen the Kfar Falous crossing between Sidon and Jezzine.

The group urged those who have fled the Jezzine enclave to return to their homes to prevent Palestinians from being resettled in the area.