Bigscale fighting between Syrian and Israeli troops

Damascus, April 14: Syrian forces today foiled an Israeli attack on Syrian positions on Mount Hermon and air defence batteries shot down three Israeli warplanes, a Syrian military communique said.

Israeli losses in today’s fighting, which started at 515 a.m. (845 IST), were estimated at 50 troops killed or wounded according to the communqiue. Including the three planes shot down today, Syria had brought down seven Israeli warplanes since the last October ArabIsraeli war, the communique said.

According to the communique, fighting was still continuing five hours later between Syrian and Israeli forces both on Mount Hermon and at several places on the Golan Heights front.

According to military sources in Damascus, the Syrians have seized new positions previously held by the Israelis in Mount Hermon. The Israelis, the sources said, were trying to drive the Syrians out of those positions and recapture them.

Military sources in Tel Aviv said that Israeli soldiers discovered the Syrian force just before dawn today and a fierce battle began at around 415 local (0745 IST).

Israeli forces claimed today to have beaten off another Syrian attempt to occupy key northern ridges, providing excellent strategic and observation posts, on the 2,500 metre high snowcapped Mount Hermon at the northern end of the Golan Front.

The fighting for the ridges, involving Israeli fighter planes as well as Syrian commando units backed by artillery, is seen here as marking a definitive end to the uneasy Golan Front truce imposed by the United Nations Security Council on October 24.

An official spokesman announced today that an Israeli army unit last night wiped out a Syrian unit, believed here to have been a company of about 30 men, which took up positions high on the mountain.