Israeli Forces Kill an Unspecified Number of Guerrillas in Lebanon

JERUSALEM â€”  Israeli forces pushed north of their self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon and killed an undisclosed number of Shia Muslim guerrillas in clashes outside two villages, the military said Friday.

A military statement did not give the extent or time of the operation, which it said occurred near the villages of Zaouta Sharqiyeh and Mazraat Chamreh, two miles north of Israel’s self-declared “security zone� in southern Lebanon.

But sources said the attack took place late Thursday and early Friday. Soldiers still were sweeping the area and counting casualties in the central sector of southern Lebanon, the sources said.

The military said the operation was carried out against members of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah organization. The statement said “a number� of Hezbollah fighters were killed, but there were no Israeli casualties.

A spokesman for the Shia Amal militia said both Hezbollah and Amal guerrillas were involved in the clash with the Israelis. He said there were “heavy casualties� among the Israelis and that two Lebanese guerrillas were killed and three were wounded.

Militia sources in Tyre said the joint Amal-Hezbollah force clashed with the Israelis when the guerrillas attempted to enter Israeli-held territory.

The sources said Israeli gunners fired flares into the sky while Israeli troops pursued the guerrillas.

The two Shia groups have rarely spoken of joint action in southern Lebanon since Israeli troops invaded in June, 1982.

Israel withdrew most of its forces from Lebanon in June, 1985, and established what it called a “security zone� to prevent attacks on northern Israel from across the border.

Several thousand U.N. peacekeepers, Israeli troops and the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army patrol the buffer zone, which ranges three miles to nine miles north from the Israeli border.

Hezbollah, which is believed to hold several Western hostages in Lebanon, has increased its presence in the country’s southern region since the withdrawal of Israeli troops two years ago.