Israelis, Egyptians battle in raids over Suez Canal

(UPI) — Israeli je ts blasted Egyptian military positions in the southern stretches of the Suez Canal for nearly two hours yesterday. On the ground Israelis fought Arab forces in gunbattles across the canal in the west and the Jordan Valley in the east. In Jordan, Arab guerrilla organizations called an “alert Tuesday night following the issue of a strict security clamp down on their activities by King Hussein’s government. A series o f decrees announced after a cabinet meeting presided over by the Jordanian king banned the carrying, firing and storage of arms, dem onstrations, party activities and unauthorized publications. The decrees were issued fol­ lowing Hussein’s return from Cairo where he had consulta­ tions with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and during the absence from Jordan of several guerrilla leaders including A1 Fatah leader Yassir Aarafat who is visiting Moscow. A Tel Aviv army spokesman sa id Israeli* planes Tuesday carried out two raids lasting a total o f 100 minutes on Egyp­ tian targets in the Suez Canal’s southern sector. He said the Israeli aircraft first delivered an hour-long pounding to Egyptian m ortar and artillery encam pm ents then returned in. mid afternoon to better Egyp­ tian antiaircraft barriers and artillery positions for an hour. All Israeli aircraft returned safely to base, the spokesman said. In Cairo, air raid sirens sounded in the suburb of Helipolis at 11:30 p.m. but there were no reports o f raiding planes. Israeli and Egyptian forces also fought fierce duels across the canal with artillery, m ortar and autom atic weapons. An Israeli spokesman said one Israeli soldier was killed and another Israeli wounded in an earlier raid along the central canal sector died Tuesday. In the south Jordan valley, Jordanian and Israeli forces exchanged medium machine gun fire in the area of A1 Maghtas, four miles north of the Dead Sea.