War toll rises

Press, 20 May 1981, Page 8

War toll rises

. NZPA-Reuter Beirut Fifty-two. people; have' been killed and, more, than \ 230 wounded in fighting in .and around Beirut since Saturday, reports said yesterday. In the Bekaa Valley, central Lebanon, the death tollwas nine,«with 23 Wounded, '■. when Syrian troops of .the 7 Arab Deterrent. Force, managed to stem . ciashes between forces belonging' to the National Movement; (Leftist) and Amal, : A 'Shiite? political-military' group. '/ ?/,'■ Lebanese’ television said ambulances raced through the capital at a rate of one • every two minutes yesterday.

By afternoon the shelling had ... spread to the east of, the Christian, back-country, in \ the Kcsruan mountains, arid ; to the north. Ashrafieh, the Christian quarter in east Beirut, was almost deserted yesterday. Several shells, fell near the 1 presidential/: palace in ’ a ; south-east suburb of Beirut. ; : ;In;..Lebarion -an /initial. attempt7at?a? ceasefire'.failed. A second trued . imposed in i the earlyevening/was only 7; partly respected.,,).,?.-’' 7 ■' ; : ;7The capitar was relatively quiet yesterday although, explosions’ Arid gtinfire were?’ heard occasionally along the demarcation line that cuts the city in two.

Four shells fell on Sidon, capital of south Lebanon, yesterday. They came from a border enclave, press re-, ports said. . Two other shells hit the sea and nearby fields. They were said to have come from a section of the frontier controlled by the dissident ..Lebanese Major Saad Haddad.

. The Christian town of Zable,. in central.,, Lebanon, which;has been under siege for; seven weeks by’ the A.D.F., was quiet after 36 hours of sporadic, shelling • and sniper fire. But persistent gunfire was heard in,the nearby village of' Kaa-el-Rim, reports said.