May 30, 1983 – a day with more questions than answers.
Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat narrowly escaped an assassination attempt as he was driving to Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley from Syria the Christian Phalange radio said The radio report which could not be independently confirmed came amid a widening rebellion by PLO guerrillas opposed to Arafat’s leadership The Christian Phalangists’ Voice of Lebanon radio said Arafat’s driver was killed but the PLO guerrilla leader escaped unharmed in the attack at 2:30 am (4:30 pm MDT Sunday) on the Syrian-Lcbanese border The radio said the attack occurred as Arafat was driving to the Bekaa to deal with what appeared to be the most serious challenge yet to his leadership during a 20-day revolt by about 150 guerrillas The radio gave no other details On Saturday about 50 armed men took over six Fatah offices and supply depots in a southern Damascus suburb wounding two guards an Arafat aide said The renegades reacted to an attempt to cut off their supplies. The dissent broke out May 10 after Arafat appointed two new officers to lead troops in the Bekaa The dissidents reject the appointments and accused Arafat of steering the guerrilla movement away from the armed struggle with Israel Palestinian officials said that behind-the-sccne efforts were-under way to end the rebellion.
Meanwhile, guerrillas killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others in an ambush 10 miles southeast of Beirut the Israeli military command said today. The command said a guerrilla squad in a vehicle attacked two Israeli military vehicles with bazookas and small-arms fire Sunday on a road south of Bhamdoun It said the guerrillas escaped from the scene. The deaths bring to five the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the last week of stepped-up guerrilla assaults on Israeli troops in Lebanon. Other Israeli soldiers traded fire with Syrian troops Sunday across the cease-fire line in the Bekaa Valley and one Lebanese was reported killed and another wounded when a shell fell on their home near the front line. Both Israel and Syria were beefing up forces in the area while in Beirut helicopters and amphibious vehicles carried ashore a new unit of 1200 US Marines to replace American troops stationed in Lebanon since Feb 15. Lebanese President Amin Gemayel a Christian made a rare public appearance in predominantly Moslem West Beirut and defended the US-sponsored troop withdrawal accord with Israel.
And Western leaders reaffirmed last night support for NATO’s plans to install new nuclear missiles in Europe, unless there was a major breakthrough in the present arms talks. Officials said the US stand in negotiations with the Soviet Union would be strongly endorsed at the seven-nation Western summit which opened yesterday. The latest pledge of support for NATO’s plans was seen as a prompt answer to a Kremlin warning of a new arms race if the West went ahead and deployed the missiles. The Kremlin said on Saturday it would regard new US missile deployment in Europe seriously, and indicated it was ready to station its own missiles beyond Soviet borders in reply.
The statement, which coincided with the opening of the economic summit here, said Cruise and Pershing-2 missiles in Europe would pose an increased threat to the Soviet Union.
And along with news on Yasser Arafat, that’s just a little of what happened this May 30, 1983 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup.
