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Captain Bourges, who was killed in the crash, apparently never realized what was happening. Egypt's Minister of Information, Abdel Kader Hatem, played for newsmen a nine-minute recording of the last conversation between the captain and the Cairo control tower. According to the tape, corroborated by an Israeli inspection of the plane's flight recorder, Bourges at first thought that he was over Egyptian territory and that the jets tailing him were Egyptian MIGs. "I have some rockets here," said Bourges' copilot. There was the sound of cannon fire. "What's happening now?" asked Bourges. "They've got us," said a voice. Then Bourges radioed: "Cairo control, this is Libyan 114. I guess we have serious trouble with one heading compass." Suddenly he cried, "We are now shot! We are now shot by your fighter twice!" The copilot shouted, "It's an Israeli fighter!" Those were their last words.
Israeli authorities quickly dispatched helicopters and ground forces to the scene and rushed survivors to a hospital at Beersheba. But they were also uncharacteristically defensive about the incident. No public reports were released for three hours. Air Force Chief of Staff Mordechai Hod insisted later at a press conference that the Libyan plane had overflown "one of the most sensitive security areas" in Sinai. Perhaps so, but the area is routinely visited by even civilian representatives of U.S. Jewish organizations on VIP tours.
The shocking end to the Sinai incident overshadowed the surprise Israeli raid into northern Lebanon. As part of the Middle East's war of the spooks (TIME, Feb. 12) Israeli agents who had infiltrated Arab groups in Europe provided Jerusalem with detailed maps and diagrams of Palestinian refugee camps at Baddawi and Nahr al Bared, where terrorists were reportedly being trained. Israeli spies also discovered that George Habash, the leader of the militant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was scheduled to meet with his aides at one of the camps in late February for a high-level strategy conference.
Raid. Israeli commandos spent four months planning the attack. Three times it was postponed by Israel's Cabinet, which was worried that the raid might coincide with Mrs. Meir's annual visit to Washington. Last week the go signal was given. The commandos slipped off missile boats that had traveled 130 miles from Haifa and made their way ashore in post-midnight darkness. Arab sentries were silently knifed, and the camps attacked before the raiders were discovered. The Israelis claimed that they had destroyed armed encampments of the fedayeen and killed 62 guerrillas. Next day, Lebanese authorities showed newsmen what they said were schoolrooms and clinics and said that 31 people—mainly civilians —had been killed.
Israeli officers insisted later that the strike had been made to halt fedayeen attacks abroad. Certainly Israel has had little difficulty with Arab guerrillas at home in recent months; the Syrian border has been neutralized by heavy Israeli air and artillery strikes, and the Lebanese have apparently persuaded the fedayeen to move back from positions near Mount Hermon in order to avoid Israeli reprisals in that area.