Opening a Third Front

MIDDLE EAST

While egging other Arabs on, Syria has remained a ringside fanatic since the 1967 war. It was fearful of evoking Israeli retaliation against itself. Last week, however, it actively joined the fray. Its entry increased the tension and violence in the Middle East by yet another notch.

Two Syrian Sukh017 fighter-bombers streaked across Israel's northern bor der and bombed an Israeli military post on Mount Hermon. Syrian artillery opened up against the town of Ku-neitra, key military headquarters in the occupied Golan Heights. Israel denied that either attack caused casualties. The real victim was the last mutually respected cease-fire line in the Middle East. Now, besides Egypt and Jordan, Is rael must deal with an active Arab enemy on a third front.

Four-minute Raid. For once, the Ar abs could readily blame Israel for the newest escalation. The day before the Syrian raid, Israeli jets attacked inside Syria's border for the first time since the 1967 war; the planes rocketed and strafed a guerrilla camp, wounding elev en soldiers. After Syria's riposte, Israel, if past patterns held true, could be expected to reply. That, in turn, would set off another cycle of violence.

Increased Arab aggressiveness is ev ident along the Suez Canal, where Is rael last month called in its air force to silence Egyptian artillery. Last week Egypt took the initiative in the air. A flight of 30 fighter-bombers, escorted by MIG interceptors, attacked Israeli positions in occupied Sinai, killing one soldier and wounding six. The raid lasted only four minutes, giving Israeli jets no time to scramble to the challenge. Next day the Israeli air force plastered Egyptian positions along the canal for 45 minutes; for good measure, Israeli planes also raided Jordan.

Shooting Gallery. The price of the heightened violence is heavy, and not only to the combatants. Last week Swedish Major Bo Roland Plane, one of the 92 United Nations observers stationed along the canal, became the second U.N. officer to die since the outbreak of hostilities 25 months ago; an earlier death occurred during the 1967 fighting in Syria. Major Plane was killed by an Israeli shell fragment at his observation post near Port Tewfik on the Egyptian side of the canal. The post had already sustained several near misses and one direct hit that blew a hole in a wall, just a few yards from the observers' living quarters. When firing began again, Plane and a Chilean colonel moved to a window to take a look--just in time for Plane to catch a piece of shrapnel in the neck above his armored vest. He died instantly.

The incident underscored the warning of U.N. Secretary-General U Thant just three weeks before, that the observers had become "defenseless targets in a shooting gallery." The observer corps is composed mainly of army officers from seven countries. The men live nine days at a stretch in concrete-reinforced bunkers, marked by a U.N. flag and bearing multilingual code names like Charlie, Delta, Kilo, Lima and Mike on the Egyptian side. On the Israeli side, the posts are named for colors. Neither combatant is supposed to locate weapons within 43 yards of the posts, but that rule is largely ignored by both sides. U Thant complained last May that the Egyptians had wheeled artillery within two yards of some posts, inviting Israeli counterfire. In the last two months, the U.N. has lodged 74 such complaints against Egypt and 15 against Israel.

Fearful Precedent. After Plane's death, the chief U.N. truce supervisor, Norway's Lieut. General Odd Bull, ordered two of the 18 observation posts, one on each side, closed because of danger or damage. But despite U Thant's repeated threats to withdraw the observer corps entirely if the risk continues, that drastic step is not likely to be taken.

Along the Suez, the observers provide the Egyptians with a face-saving excuse for not attempting to storm across the canal and make good on their threats to drive the Israelis from occupied Sinai. The Israelis also want the observers to stay, since their departure would symbolize chaos in the Middle East to the rest of the world and intensify pressures for big power intervention to force a settlement. As the third front opened up, there seemed more reason than ever for the observers to remain. The U.N. and every one else were only too well aware that the last time a peace-keeping force was withdrawn, the Middle East erupted into full-scale war.

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