Israeli Allies in S. Lebanon Wreck Village : Militiamen Bulldoze Houses as Guerrillas Watch From Hillside

EIN EL TINEH, Lebanon — Israel’s Lebanese allies bulldozed scores of houses in a former Muslim guerrilla stronghold in southern Lebanon today as Israeli helicopter gunships and jets provided air cover.

Pro-Iranian fighters of Hezbollah (Party of God) watched from the hillside overlooking Maydoun as militiamen of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army smashed through 60 houses in the village captured during a day of fighting on Wednesday.

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said Israel will not hesitate to make raids similar to the strike that was launched Monday into the area of southern Lebanon that Israel has designated its “security zone.”

Three Israeli soldiers and about 40 guerrillas were killed during the operation.

“The point was to purge the security zone,” Rabin told Israel Radio. “There is nothing worse than allowing terror elements who are active against us to establish themselves freely and feel free to act against Israeli and targets in the security zone.”

Took 20 Prisoners

About 1,500 Israeli troops pulled back from south Lebanon on Wednesday night after a two-day drive to root out Muslim and Palestinian guerrillas and end cross-border raids.

Israeli sources said today that Israeli troops arrested 20 guerrillas during the operation and brought them back to Israel.

But the SLA remained at Maydoun, as Hezbollah guerrillas, armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket launchers, glared down from the nearby hill village of Ein el Tineh.

“The SLA brought in reinforcements, and they are bulldozing the houses and the cemetery of the village,” one fighter said.

Military officials said a South Lebanon Army tank opened fire on a guerrilla vehicle approaching Maydoun today and killed the guerrillas inside. They did not elaborate.

SLA militiamen opened fire on journalists trying to drive to Maydoun in cars flying white flags.

‘Why Hezbollah?’

Rabin said the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, or Party of God, Shia Muslim movement was singled out by the Israeli forces this time because it “has become one of the elements that most cooperates with (Palestine Liberation Organization Chief Yasser) Arafat.”

But critics questioned the wisdom of attacking Hezbollah, noting that its guerrillas had not participated in any of the dozen infiltration attempts by Palestinian guerrillas into Israel since November.

“Why Hezbollah?,” asked military analyst Uzi Mahanaimi in a front page commentary in the Yediot Aharonot daily.

“Hezbollah is not the Israeli army’s main enemy in south Lebanon” and has not tried to penetrate into northern Israel since 1982, Mahanaimi wrote.