US launches 'heavy' strikes on Iran after attempted attack on American troops

BY the Associated Press. DAMASCUS, Syria, June 11. British forces closing in on this ancient capital launched heavy attack against French defenders in the last hour of daylight to- night just east of Kessoue, which lies only 10 miles south of here. French forces resisting the drive of a second British-Free French column formed new lines in the direction of Beirut, after the invaders had forced them back in a continued advance. Reports to Eighty from Syria tonight said De-Gaullist Brit- ish column had pushed to within 11 miles of Damascus before be- ing met by violent fighting by the capital's French defenders. This advance, directed upon Bei- rut as an immediate goal, was sup- ported strongly by the British Medi- terranean fleet operating offshore. French Planes Active. Overhead French aviation was in- creasingly active, bombing enemy formations and centers at various points. In London Reuters, British news agency, said the Turkish radio reported that the British armored column advancing from Abou Renal into Syria had oc- cupied the important airfield at Der Ez Zor, 70 miles northwest of Abou Renal, on the Euphrates River. The French communique said a column of British ar- mored units had made contact with the French at Abou Renal on the Iraq frontier. Today's late British onslaughts came after French resistance had stiffened sharply, supported by new aerial aid offered by bombers that yesterday raided the British oil port of Haifa, Palestine. In Vichy, the French acknowl- edge