TEL AVIV: Israeli troops today [Aug 6] entered Jordanian territory south of the Dead Sea, killed five Arabs and wounded two others and returned to the occupied area with the dead and wounded.

An Israeli spokesman claimed that the el-Fatah group had “infiltrated” Israeli territory and “shelled a hospital” at the Fin Ahav settlement in the area with bazookas. There were no casualties in the hospital. The Israeli spokesman added the Israeli Forces pursued the “commando group” several kilometres into Jordanian territory. This afternoon Jordanian and Israeli forces exchanged mortar fire again in the Golan Heights area, just a few hours before the United Nations Security Council was due to sit in emergency session to hear complaints by both sides. The exchange of fire lasted for one hour.

This artillery duel was the fifth outbreak of shooting since Israeli Air Force planes bombed villages in Jordan last Sunday.

“Saout al Uruba” a Beirut paper said the aggression was “due to American support for Israel”, and “al Shaa” recalled that American Congress had shown willingness for more US fighter aircraft to be delivered to Israel, adding: “If Congress has really human feelings it should immediately reverse its decision to favour the Tel Aviv aggressors.”

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2018