Article

2004-06-07 Israel-Palestine

Israeli planes raid Palestinian positions near Beirut

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Posted by Frank G 2004-06-07 5:06:04 PM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 From Haaretz Daily:

Israel Air Force warplanes struck targets near the Lebanese capital city of Beirut around 10 P.M. Monday in response to earlier rocket fire into Israeli territorial waters.

Lebanese security sources said the Israeli jets hit Palestinian guerrilla targets south of Beirut. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The sources said the attack on Naameh village, 20 kilometers south of Beirut, was aimed at an area in which a radical Damascus-based group, People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, has a large base.

"There were no casualties as the base had been abandoned some time ago," a Palestinian source said.

The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman issued a statement saying the strike was carried out in response to an incident in which 107-millimeter rockets were fired by a Palestinian organization from Lebanon and landed near a Dabur Israeli naval vessel patrolling Israeli territorial waters in the Mediterranean earlier in the day.

Later on Monday evening, however, a military source told Haaretz the rockets fired in the morning were actually aimed at Israeli land targets and not at the naval vessel.

The IDF statement issued following the Monday night airstrike said "Israel is determined stop terror acts emanating from Lebanon and places the responsibility for these terror activities on the governments of Lebanon and Syria."

A statement from the United Nations office in south Lebanon said three rockets were fired from the Naqoura area and that UN officials were investigating. The Lebanese security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were four rockets.

The Lebanese official said three of the rockets landed on the outskirts of the border town of Naqoura while one fell in the Mediterranean Sea off the coastal town. Authorities were investigating who was behind the attack, the official said.

The militant Hezbollah group was checking the report, according to a spokesman. Hezbollah usually launches attacks at the Shaba Farms (Har Dov), an area that is far from Naqoura.

In the past, radical Palestinian guerrilla groups also have fired rockets into northern Israel from Lebanon. The last time that happened was March 23, when IAF helicopter gunships fired on guerrillas who were launching rockets toward Israel from Wadi Sluqi, about 10 kilometers north of the border. Two guerrillas were killed and a third wounded in the air raid.

The guerrillas belonged to the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -General Command headed by Ahmed Jibril. They apparently wanted to avenge Israel's assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

While Lebanon's government strongly supports the Lebanese Hezbollah, it has opposed Palestinian guerrillas using southern Lebanon to attack Israel. Palestinian attacks in the 1970's and early 1980's brought harsh Israeli retaliations.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-06-07 5:30:02 PM|| 2004-06-07 5:30:02 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 The guerrillas belonged to the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -General Command

splitters!

or was that the People's Front?

Posted by spiffo 2004-06-07 7:41:22 PM|| 2004-06-07 7:41:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Sounds like the pali rockets got a slice about has bad as mine.

Posted by Shipman 2004-06-07 8:59:54 PM|| 2004-06-07 8:59:54 PM|| Front Page Top

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