Deadlock still in Lebanon

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34103, 16 March 1976, Page 17

Deadlock still in Lebanon

(N Z P.A -Reuter—Copyright)

BEIRUT, March 15.

Lebanon is today teetering on the brink of renewed civil war as President Franjieh clings to office despite pressure on him to resign.

Right-wing support for the adamant Head of State seems to be increasing while the military “corrective movement” seeking to dismiss him is in danger of losing momentum. The leader of the attempted army coup d’etat, General Aziz Al-Ahdab, last night again threatened to use force against the President if he did not vacate his office, and President Franjieh, whose mandate ends in September, has now twice rejected a petition from Parliament urging him to resign. Lebanese Army mutineers of the self-styled Lebanese Arab Army have intensified their attempt to overthrow the President, and some have joined Left-wing groups in Beirut. Informed sources say that others have taken up strategic positions on the mountain pass between Beirut and eastern Lebanon. It is not known how far the mutineers are cooperating with General Ahdab. Some Lebanese Army officers have declared loyalty to the President, including the commander of a barracks near his palace, but it is impossible to judge the strength

of each part of such a divided army. Shooting continues around the seafront hotels in Beirut, the scene of fierce battles between Left and Right-wing militias during the recent civil war.

Shooting also occurred in the rival suburbs of Hadeth and Shiyah after a Jesuit priest, aged 74, had been killed when unidentified gunmen shot at his car. At least four other people were killed in Beirut yesterday. in the north a battle is raging between the port of Tripoli and the nearby mountain village of Zgharta, Mr Franjieh’s family seat. Telephone links with Tripoli have been cut.

Obituary Air Vice-Marshal Stanley Vincent, a British air ace in both world wars, has died, aged 78. In the 1914-18 War he fought a duel with the celebrated German pilot, Baron Manfred von Richthofen. The air vice-marshal was the only Royal Air Force pilot to shoot down enemy aircraft from a single-seater fighter in both world wars.— London.