Beirut truce is breaking

Press, 17 June 1982, Page 8

Beirut truce is breaking

NZPA Doha The shaky truce around Beirut cracked and appeared to break as Israeli troops encircling the Lebanese capital traded artillery fire with Palestinian guerrillas and Syrian regulars. At nightfall, according to the Israeli Military Command in Tel Aviv,’ Israeli troops were bombarded by tank fire and returned the barrages. The renewal of violence shattered an undeclared cease-fire that had ■kept a measure of quiet on Monday night and Tuesday south and east of Beirut. At Sidon, 30km south of Beirut and 50km north of the Lebanon-Israel border, other guerrilla units launched a brief mortar barrage that closed the traffic-clogged coastal highway for about 90 minutes.

Israeli forces responded, and correspondents heard what seemed to be shells exploding in the vicinity of the Ein Hilwa area east of Sidon, where a large Palestinian refugee' camp is located.

At Doha, within sight of the closed-down Beirut International Airport on the capital's southern outskirts, a senior Israeli officer said the Israelis had encountered determined resistance in the 10-day-old campaign to push the guerrillas of the Palestine Liberation Organisation northward away from the border.

With the help of the strongly anti-Palestinian Christians in east Beirut, the Israeli invaders have encircled the Lebanese capital, sealing P.L.O. and Syrian Army forces inside the city.

However. Israeli officers acknowledge that many pockets of resistance remain outside the city and in the mountainous area to the south and east where the P.L.O. guerrillas have maintained strongholds for many years from which to attack Israel. The number of civilian casualties in a week of fighting remained unknown, as did the total number of refugees. But a United Nations field worker has said that 100,000 refugees might be.a reasonable estimate. The. cities of Sidon and Tyre were just beginning the

task of cleaning-up vast amounts of debris from battles fought last week as the Israeli armoured columns roared north along the coastal route. Other towns closer to Beirut were damaged even more, especially Damour. a one-time Lebanese Christian enclave that was taken over by the Palestinians in 1975. and the neighbouring village of El Chaim. 13km to 15km south of the capital. Israel has charged Syrian and Palestinian forces with firing on its soldiers near Beirut. ■ It is the first time the Israelis have accused the Syrians of breaking the cease-fire.

Reports have also suggested that three to four Soviet transport planes have been landing daily for the past five days in Syria with military equipment.

Israel said a team of 59 doctors and nurses, with 20 ambulances and truckloads of medical supplies, have moved into Lebanon to help the civilian population.. They would provide full medical services for residents in the main coastal towns of Tyre and Sidon this week and then spread out to other areas.

The Prime Minister (Mr Begin) who flew to the United States to seek support for Israeli ideas on a settlement of the Lebanese problem; said before leaving that the conflict had brought greater Israeli-American understanding. Syria has formally rejected an Israeli “ultimatum" requesting the withdrawal of its troops from Beirut and its vicinity. According to the Syrians the ultimatum was issued ,by the Israeli commander and his deputy in Baabda, an eastern suburb of .the Lebanese capital, and was given through the Lebanese Army there to General Sami Khatib, < the commander of the all-Syrian Arab Deterrent Force in Lebanon. Meanwhile the United States favours retaining United Nations peace-keep-ing troops in Lebanon, but has not decided whether’ to offer soldiers for the force should the U.N. Security Council extend its mandate.