7 June 1982, South of Sidon
by Macaulay Connor
Today this reporter came upon the results of a recent and bloody Israeli sweep south on Sidon. At least three IDF soldiers were killed in an ambush.
On this the second day of the Israeli Operation Peace for Galilee Israeli infantry were sweeping north through an orange grove near this unnamed market town. While there were reports of Fatah militia in the area, numbers were unknown.
Two roads bordered the grove and heads north towards the market. The IDF appears to have been following these parallel roads when an ambush occurred causing the loss of three soldiers who were on an M113.
While we cannot approach the village at this time I can say we can hear heavy weapons coming from the village itself.
While the IDF is limiting their comments on this engagement, this reported was able to find out from resident that Fatah did take some losses.
After Action Report
It has been to long since Mark and I play IABSM and it showed. We missed adding in a few of the IDF cards and took a couple of actions before we got back our sea legs.
Unfortunately this effected Mark’s IDF more than me. He ended up get a M113 to far in front of the column and was hit by RPG7s. Between this and AK47 fire the M113 came out the worse for ware.
Once Mark was able to get his two infantry sections on the table he was able to clean out the militias with limited loses. His superior Big Men allowed the IDF to move faster than my running Fatah troops.
The game came to an end when the IDF was able to get to the village and than faced a HMG. Over all I (as the PLO player) feel that the PLO won as we destroyed (ok immobilized) an M113 and killed 4 IDF soldiers, three of which were in the M113. The PLO lost only 12 men (out of 18 active men).
Jon Yuengling