Clash in Tripoli

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 9

Clash in Tripoli

NZPA-Reuter Tripoli Pro and anti-Syrian militias clashed in pre-dawn street fighting in the north Lebanese port of Tripoli yesterday (New Zealand time), using automatic weapons and rocket-pro-pelled grenades, security officials said.

The officials said police were unable to enter the area, controlled by the militias, and there were no details of casualties.

Fighting in the narrow back streets of the port lasted for two hours and a half, the officials said.

Although Syrian troops control the Tripoli area, they have stayed out of the fighting between militias who defend their areas behind barricades and clash almost nightly. Palestinian guerrillas, based outside the city

centre, have also stayed clear of the local fighting. A group of senior Palestine Liberation Organisation officials will hold urgent talks this morning aimed at ending fighting between Palestinian factions in Syrian-occupied east Lebabon.

Reports from Lebanese security officials and Palestinian sources in Lebanon said rebels opposed to the P.L.O. chairman and Fatah guerrilla chief, Yasser Arafat, had attacked Fatah bases around the BeirutDamascus highway, killing at least three Fatah loyalists. Lebanese security officials in the Bekaa said machine-guns and artillery were used, although most of the exchanges involved automatic rifles and rocketpropelled grenades.