ISRAEL DENIES AIR RAIDS ON EAST LEBANON

Police and the Israeli Army denied radio reports that Israeli warplanes blasted Shiite bases in a new air raid on east Lebanon yesterday. The spokesman said supersonic jets broke the sound barrier in reconnaissance runs over the village of Janta and the city of Baalbek, drawing anti-aircraft fire from Hizbullah's positions.

A statement by the radical Shiite Muslim group today said nine people were killed and 27 wounded in an Israeli air attack Sunday on a party base in south Lebanon's village of Ain Abu-Suar. The Hizbullah statement said the victims included 15 students.

Sunday's attack was Israel's ninth on Lebanon this year. It was in retaliation for an Aug. 9 car bomb attack by a Hizbullah activist. Hizbullah said the bombing was to avenge the kidnapping of Shiite Moslem cleric Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid by Israeli commandos on July 28. Israel justified the kidnapping by saying it wanted to trade Sheikh Obeid for three Israeli soldiers captured in 1986.