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DATE=5/23/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ISRAEL / LEBANON (L UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-262698
BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL
DATELINE=JERUSALEM
CONTENT=
VOICE AT:
INTRO:  Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak says Israel 
may complete its withdrawal from south Lebanon within 
the next few days.  As V-O-A Correspondent Meredith 
Buel reports from Jerusalem, Hezbollah guerrillas and 
civilians continue to take over more areas of southern 
Lebanon.
TEXT:  In an interview with Israeli army radio, Prime 
Minister Barak says Israel's withdrawal from southern 
Lebanon could be complete within the next few days.
The comment came as Israel withdrew its soldiers from 
the town of Bint Jbeil, a major military post in 
Israel's occupation zone in south Lebanon.
Shortly after the withdrawal, Hezbollah guerrillas and 
civilians entered the town, waving flags and shouting 
pro-guerrilla slogans.  People hugged and kissed 
friends and relatives and threw rice and rose petals 
to welcome the new arrivals.
Traveling in tanks, troop carriers, and jeeps, 
jubilant Israeli soldiers rolled across the border, 
many of them dancing, singing, and waving their guns 
in the air.
The redeployment follows a decision by Mr. Barak and 
his top security advisors to accelerate the pullback 
from southern Lebanon after the collapse of the 
Israeli-allied South Lebanon Army (S-L-A) militia.
Panicked militiamen from the S-L-A are abandoning 
their posts and either surrendering to the Lebanese 
army or fleeing to the Israeli border, seeking asylum.
Israel has set up tents on the shore of the Sea of 
Galilee to provide visas and some shelter to the 
militiamen who have fled across the border.
About 140 prisoners from the notorious Khiam prison in 
south Lebanon were freed when villagers stormed the 
facility.  Human rights groups say inmates were 
systematically tortured at the prison.
Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah exchanged fire near the 
border, and residents in northern Israeli communities 
were ordered back into bomb shelters.  Many families 
fled south to get out of guerrilla rocket range.
The head of Israel's northern military command, Major 
General Gabi Ashkenazi, says Israeli soldiers still 
occupy outposts north of the border where clashes with 
guerrillas continue.
            /// ASHKENAZI ACT ///
      Shooting and firing from west to east is 
      continuing and it is actually a fight in the 
      security zone and along the border.
            /// END ACT ///
Dozens of villages in south Lebanon have been taken 
over by Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas and 
civilians in the last few days.
Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that there 
will be severe retaliation if guerrillas attack 
soldiers or civilians after the withdrawal.
Israel has maintained a 15-kilometer-wide buffer zone 
in south Lebanon since 1985 to protect northern 
communities from guerrilla attacks.
Prime Minister Barak had originally set early July as 
the deadline for a complete withdrawal.   (Signed)
NEB/MB/JWH/JP
23-May-2000 11:33 AM EDT (23-May-2000 1533 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.