Syrian thrust halts

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 8

Syrian thrust halts

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Syrian troops appear to have stopped their thrust aimed at flushing Falangist Christian militiamen out of Central Lebanon's strategic heights, according to Rightist and Leftist sources. The drive. apparently aimed at ensuring complete Syrian control of East Lebanon's fertile Bekaa Valley, prompted Israel to intervene by shooting down two Syrian helicopters on Wednesday. Syria responded to the air strike by rushing Soviet ground-to-air missiles into Lebanon. But the sources said the troops from the all-Syrian Arab Deterrent Force had also apparently curbed the

campaign launched last week-end without securing the peak in Lebanon's central highlands from the Falangists. They did manage to seize the most important peak, however — the 2678 m Sannin Mountain, which dominates both the Bekaa and the Christian heartland to the west, military sources said. Israel said it has intervened in support of the Christians because they were in danger of "utter destruction” in the words of the Israeli Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin). The air strike and the subsequent positioning of sophisticated Soviet missiles in the Bekaa by the Syrians raised international fears of a wider confrontation. The American State Department’s spokesman; Dean Fisher, said: “It is a very tense, volatile, and dangerous situation” in Lebanon. “The United States is mak-

ing every effort with other governments and parties to ease the tensions there," he added. in Moscow; the official Soviet news agency, Tass, responded to an American call to help end the crisis by accusing the Secretary of State (Mr Alexander Haig) of hypocrisy in expressing concern over Lebanon. It said his comments were intended to mask United States interference in Lebanese affairs. The campaign in the snowcapped Central Lebanese highlands was stopped after not just the Israeli intervention but also a trip to Beirut by the Syrian Foreign Minister (Mr Abdel-Halim Khaddam). Mr Khaddam said all parties in Lebanon appeared determined to find a solution to the latest, crisis and promise to return within a few days with a discussion document on how to end the bloodshed.