Fragile cease-fire holds in Lebanon

Press, 28 August 1979, Page 9

Fragile cease-fire holds in Lebanon

NZPA-Reuter Beiruti Sporadic shelling broke j through southern Lebanon’s | relative calm yesterday but the day-old cease-fire be-' tween Israeli-backed militias! and Palestinian forces ap-l peared to be holding. The United Nations declared a cease-fire on Sun-1 day to end four days of heavy artillery duels which; killed or injured many civil- I ians trapped in the cross-1 Each side accused the other of violating the truce during the night, but there were no reports of serious flare-ups. ospects of lasting peace in the volatile border region appeared remote, however. Previous cease-fires have Provided no more than a rief respite for war-weary civilians trapped in a murderous cross-fire between Is-

I rael. Right-wing Lebanese ; militias and Palestinian I forces. ! A senior Arab diplomat in i Beirut said: “The shooting may have stopped, but until the conflict is resolved there | is a grave risk that the | fighting will break out again at any tiin<*.” i One of the worst hit targets at the week-end was j the Biblical port city of Tyre I which is now virtually ; deserted. Salvoes of heavy artillery shells reduced much of the city’s picturesque Christian quarter to smokeblackened ruins. Aj the guns fell silent attention turned to the United Nations where Lebanon has asked for an emergency session of the Security Council to discuss the conflict. Lebanon’s United Nations Ambassador returned to New York on Sunday to discuss the request, made on

Friday night, but the Lebanese Foreign Minister (Mr Fuad Butros) said the session could be delayed if the cease-fire held. In an interview with the English-language weekly, “Monday Morning,” Mr Butros also called on the United States to increase pressure on Israel to stop its ; attacks against southern Lebanon. Mr Butros confirmed that President Elias Sarkis was trying to arrange an Arab : summit meeting in an effort to get help for the embattled south. “It is unacceptable for I Lebanon to bear the full mil- ; it-ry and human burden of the Palestinian cause and I the Middle East crisis alone, to the exclusion of all other ■ Arab countries,” Mr Butros i said. “This is beyond Lebanon’s i means, it is impossible.”