JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, lashing out at 'panic-mongers,' Monday denied reports that Israel made a secret pact with the United States to fight Syria on Washington's behalf.
Shamir, who met with President Reagan at the White House last week, told the Knesset, or parliament, that the two countries agreed to coordinate policies and strengthen ties, but that there was no secret agreement.
'Many incorrect rumors and baseless interpretations have been spread regarding what was agreed in Washington,' Shamir said.
'Nothing was agreed in these talks which has not been made public. Israel did not take on any military commitments, as certain panic-mongers have claimed.'
In London, the Sunday Times reported the United States had vowed to support a major Israeli military operation in the Shouf mountains in Lebanon to force the Syrians out of the country.
Israeli planes Saturday attacked mountain bases of Syrian-backed guerillas, and Sunday U.S. bombers hit Syrian positions in Lebanon. Two American planes were shot down.
Quoting 'well-placed Western and Arab intelligence sources,' The Observer said Israel would receive 'unprecedented financial, commercial, military and political concessions' from the United States in the deal.
Stung by two straight days of air attacks, Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam in Damascus charged Reagan and Shamir had a secret pact to drive Syrian forces from Lebanon.
In Washington, Reagan and the State Department denied the raids were coordinated.
Reporting to Parliament on his talks with Reagan last week, Shamir said agreement to strengthen Israel's 'unwritten alliance' with the United States was natural because both countries had common goals and enemies in Lebanon.
'The Syrian threat, which is based on the abundance of Soviet equipment pouring into Syria, the emphatic and extreme Syrian hostility to the United States and to the West in general ... have created the appropriate background for the fruitful dialogue that took place' in Washington, Shamir said.
A parliamentary vote on whether to accept Shamir's report was scheduled for Wednesday, along with a vote of no-confidence in the government tabled by the Communist Democratic Front for Peace and Equality Party.
Shamir called the death of eight U.S. Marines in Beirut Sunday a tragedy. 'These soldiers were sent to Lebanon to keep peace and they are being attacked and killed by the enemies of peace,' he said.
