European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday july 3, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 9iranian airline reportedly Fli plane sent for safekeeping War Nicosia Cyprus apr airliners that Iraq sent to Iran for safekeeping during the persian Gulf War have been repainted and put into service by Iran air sources in Tehran say. Iran air began using the planes last month to help Fly 117,0q0 iranians to and from the holy cities of saudi Arabia for the annual Muslim pilgrimage the sources said. They spoke from the iranian capital on condition of anonymity. An iranian newspaper opposed to president Hashemi a Sfanjani reported sunday that eight Iran air airliners that were believed confiscated by Iraq from Kuwait were used on flights to Jidida saudi Arabia. The report in the Radical Muslim daily Jahanne islam or the world of islam also said the saudis had confiscated the planes on behalf of Kuwait but that claim was dismissed by the sources in Tehran. The report in Jahanne islam was believed to be aimed at embarrassing a Sfanjani at a time when both Iran and saudi Arabia have been trying to end a Long feud. Iraq has said it sent 33 civilian and 115 military aircraft to Iran for safekeeping from Allied air raids during the go 1 f War. Iran maintains it received Only 22 planes. The . Military said 137 iraqi civilian and military aircraft were flown to Iran. Earlier Iran said it would return the iraqi planes at wars end. But More recently it has said it wants Iraq to pay War reparations from the 1980-88 Iran Iraq conflict. There has been speculation that if Iraq did not pay Iran would keep the aircraft which Are Worth an estimated s3 billion. Speaking by Telephone from Tehran an asian Diplomat said he was unable to confirm How Many of the airliners had been repainted and were in service with Iran air. But he said they included airbases of prances Airbus industries and .-made Boeing 747s. The Diplomat asked that his name not be used. The iraqis did not have any airbases. Those flown to Iran Are believed to be among 14 looted from Kuwait by Iraq during its occupation which started with the aug. 2 invasion and ended feb. 28. Kuwait airways has said the iraqis took five Airbus a310-200s and one Airbus a300c4-600, two Boeing 767-200s, two Boeing 767-200ersi two Gulf Stream ills and two bae 125s. Kuwait has ordered 24 airbases to replace its ravaged Fleet. Diplomats in Tehran said in May that some of the iraqi military planes had been repainted with the colors of the iranian air Force. The iraqi planes both military and civilian were a godsend for Iran which has been squeezed by an embargo Banning a urst technology to Iran and a shortage of foreign currency. The iranians have been unable to buy wide bodied Airbus or Boeing aircraft desperately needed to service an increase in air travel in the past decade. The embargo was imposed after Iran a anti american government came to Power following the 1979 fundamentalist revolution. Iraqis to permit nuclear inspection Vienna Austria up1 a the International atomic Energy Agency has sent a High level delegation to Iraq to discuss its resistance to allowing a . Team to inspect suspected nuclear facilities. Last week inspectors appointed by the Agency to determine iraqis nuclear capability were denied Access to such Sites near Baghdad four times the United nations said. The inspectors also reported that they saw equipment and materials believed to be related to nuclear technology removed from the Sites. The United nations said shots were fired in one instance to prevent the team from photographing the loading and removal of the material. Under the cease fire for the persian Gulf War the United nations is empowered to eliminate All of iraqis weapons of mass destruction including any nuclear weapons or their components. Baghdad had denied that it has any nuclear capability. The delegation which arrived in Iraq on monday was sent to ask the iraqi government to provide the inspection team with unimpeded Access to such Sites and allow its members to examine the materials they witnessed being removed from the military Sites an Iaea statement said. The delegation consists of Hans Blix director general of the Iaea Rolf ekes chairman of the . Special commission to Monitor compliance with the cease fire and Yasushi Akashi . Undersecretary general for disarmament affairs. Mining for mines a member of a . Peacekeeping Force gingerly places an explosive on a mine near the Iraq kuwaiti Border. Members of the unit have been trying to Clear the Mas Sive minefields left behind by the troops of iraqis Saddam Hussein. But some people doubt that the minefields along the Border will Ever be completely cleared. Palestinian fighters driven from 2 lebanese Sites Sidon Lebanon apr the army forced palestinian guerrillas out of two shiite Muslim villages in Southern Lebanon on tuesday moving to assert government authority in the Region for the first time in 16 years of civil War. Army commandos a advancing behind a fierce barrage from tank cannons a pushed the guerrillas from the Hilltop villages of far Hatta and Maidel Southeast of the provincial capital of Sidon in a lightning 90-minute assault. The two villages were used by the Palestine liberation organization fighters As a rear base to protect their tiny enclave about a mile to the West. Army gunners also pounded guerrilla positions on the fringes of refugee Camps East of Sidon and advanced on the Plo enclave. A police spokesman said one lebanese officer was killed and 47 people were wounded in the fighting which began at Dawn. The wounded included two soldiers 15 guerrillas and 30 palestinian civilians the policeman said. Two deaths and seven injuries had been reported from mondays fighting. The thuds of Shell explosions Shook Sidon 25 Miles South of Beirut As hundreds of the City a 300,000 residents fled. The soldiers stormed guerrilla positions in far Hatta shouting to civilians to stay indoors. The army blasted sandbagged Plo positions in the Village with jeep mounted 106mm cannons and chased guerrillas in narrow alleys. Far Hattas estimated 1,000 residents weary of continued violence in their Region emerged cheering from basements to Welcome government troops. Village women served Coffee and sweets to the soldiers As other troops began mopping up in nearby Maidel. The plots political representative Zeid Behbeh accused the army of a a massacre against the palestinian people in Sidon a and demanded a cease fire. A we arc not fighting the palestinians. We arc deploying on our land. They Are shooting at our troops a said defense minister Michel Murr in a statement broadcast by the state run radio Lebanon. Smoke billowed from the palestinian refugee Camps of Mich Mich and Ein cd Hilweh on Sidon a Eastern Edge As the army blasted away at the Plo gun positions on the fringes of the shantytowns. The barrage started at Dawn and gained in intensity with 20 shells per minute fired at times. Army gunners did most of the shelling. The guerrillas occasionally fired 120mm mortars. Hundreds of lebanese civilians stuffed their cars with mattresses and household goods closed their shops and left Sidon while palestinian women and children fled the two Camps to the perceived safety of the City. About 5,000 guerrillas Are based around Sidon. Police had said after the army deployment began monday that two sunni Muslim militiamen were killed anti five wounded and two lebanese soldiers had been injured. The army said it arrested 76 guerrillas and militiamen. The syrian backed government of president Elias Herawi has succeeded in bringing peace to the capital and Northern Lebanon where militias have been surrendering their weapons after a civil War that killed 150,000 people. But Plo leaders and militias in the South have refused to Lay Down their weapons saying they Are needed for defense and to fight against Israel