STERNER LINE IN LEBANON

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28619, 23 June 1958, Page 11

STERNER LINE IN LEBANON

Army In Action Against Rebels (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 7 p.m.) BEIRUT, June 21. The Lebanese Army showed signs today of taking a tougher line with the rebels after being content for four weeks with containing them in their scattered strongholds in the capital. A Ministry of Defence communique announced last night that heavy weapons had been brought into ac:ion to destroy two buildings from which snipers had shot and killed two soldiers in west Beirut.

“We have ordered security forces to use the appropriate weapons to silence rebel snipers and destroy the houses where they hide,” the Ministry said.

The Ministry also reported a battle lasting several hours yesterday at Maalbek. the ancient Roman “City of the Sun,” in the Bekaa valley. President Chamoun and his Army Chief of Staff, General Fuad Shebab, were earlier reported to have differed over the conduct of the operations, but a Government statement last night denied reports that the general had resigned. Western sources are known to have been anxious over the delav in resolving the military situation, fearing that a prolongation could onlv weaken the Government's position.

Moscow Comment Tn Moscow today, the Soviet Government newspaper “Izvestia” 'ommented on the current visit of the United Nations SecretaryGeneral, Mr Dag Hammarskjold. ♦o the Lebanon. “It seems that the latest preparations of the American - British military machine for fresh adventures in the M’ddle East have been timed with Hammarskjold's visit to the Lebanon,” “Izvestia” said. The newspaper, quoted by the Soviet officialinews agency, Tass. said Western propaganda was suggesting that as a result of his visit, the United Nations “must take more effective measures to fulfil its mission.” Incidentally, said “Izvestia.” the United Nations had never been entrusted with anv mission of “suppressing the Lebanese uprising-”

No Armed Force The British United Press reported that the United Nations would not send an armed force to seal off the Lebanese border nnlere a further resolution giving the necessary authoritv was approved hv the United Nations Securitv Council. . A senior United Nations official in Beirut todav said that he did not think that there was one °hance in a mill inn that such a resolution could escape a Russian veto in the council. The situation limits the United Nations role to the stationing of observers on the Lebanese frontiers and in other key positions, and to reports to the Security Council.

IRISH BUTTER

LONDON. June 20.

The first Irish reactions to an agreement for further British and Irish consultations if Irish butter exports in the year exceed the 1957 level of 14.450 tons have combined relief that no more severe restrictions have been imposed with concern for the longterm future of the' Irish cattle industry if limitations of this kind became a permanent feature, says the Dublin correspondent of the “Financial Times.” “It is thought that the Irish butter surplus during the coming year will not be significantly higher than in 1957,*’ he says.

N.Z. Buys Book.—The New Zealand Government today paid £125 for a book, Ackermann’s “Microcosm of London,** containing 104 coloured plates by Rowlandson and Pugin. The book was published between 1808 and 1810.— London, June 20. East German Purge.— More than 2700 “careerists and anti-party elements” had been purged from the East German Communist Party recently, according to the secretary of the central committee, Mr Paul Froehlich.—Berlin, June 20.