Syria and Israel bolster forces in east Lebanon

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited by Anne Collier

October 28, 1982

Beirut

Syria moved two new batteries of Soviet SAM missiles into eastern Lebanon as Israel beefed up its own forces and materiel there despite plans for US-led talks on withdrawing foreign armies from the country.

Some 70,000 Israeli troops face an estimated 25,000 Syrians and another 10, 000 Palestinian guerrillas in the Bekaa Valley.

In the occupied West Bank, Israel dedicated a new settlement in defiance of President Reagan's peace plan. Speaking at the settlement's inauguration, Defense Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel must step up its settlement drive in occupied territory as an ''answer'' to the Reagan peace plan.