Israel Radio said today that the Israel Defense Force is speeding up its withdrawal from the western sector of the south Lebanon front, following the winding up of the demolition of the Ansar Prison camp.
It said that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Levy will be ready to inform Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin shortly that the third and final stage of the pullback — from the Jebel Barukh mountain top area and the eastern line facing the Syrians — can be started by the end of this month.
With the straightening of the line following the evacuation of the Ansar camp, with the freeing of some inmates and the transfer to a new camp inside Israel of the others, the IDF can now abandon a number of trouble spots, such as the town of Nabatiya, Ansar village and others north of the Litani River, which will form the temporary line until the final pullback to the international border.
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