Naval guns of U.S. in action

Press, 27 February 1984, Page 8

Naval guns of U.S. in action

NZPA-Reuter Beirut United States naval guns were reported to have opened fire on Syrian-con-trolled areas in the mountains above Beirut on Saturday night as United States Marines were in the last stages of withdrawing from Lebanon to ships offshore. Correspondents in central Beirut heard the salvoes, and Lebanese Army officials said that an American ship or ships was bombarding the upper mountain area east of Beirut. It was not clear why the naval guns opened fire just hours after a new cease-fire took hold and as the Marines were about to complete the politically sensitive withdrawal from their base at Beirut Airport. The telephone at the Marines’ base went unanswered and the United States Embassy said that nobody was available for comment.

Correspondents saw flares over the Muslim-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut in the direction of the base and heard planes, almost certainly military, since the airport is closed, flying over the capital.

The last time American ships opened fire, on February 8 and 9, they blasted hundreds of shells at territory controlled by Syrian troops and Lebanese opposition militias after guns there had bombarded Gov-ernment-held areas.

Lebanesse Army and

Christian militia artillery had also been pounding op-position-held parts of Beirut. Muslim militias had seized control of west Beirut in a decisive victory over the Army, and the American-supported Government appeared close to collapse.. The fighting now is far less intense, although sporadic gun battles and artillery fire on Saturday night marred the cease-fire. Signs of progress towards a political settlement have also appeared. Muslim sources said that the Syrian and Lebanese governments had agreed to the outlines of a peace plan involving the cancellation of last May’s treaty between Lebanon and Israel and the resumption of all-party talks on political reforms. Western diplomats said that they believed there was hard negotiating ahead but felt that Syria, the one power able to control the opposition militias, had so far appeared serious about the new cease-fire. The United States Marines marked the start of the final phase of their withdrawal from Beirut by ceremonially running down the American flag at their base.

Marines spokesmen continued to maintain that in spite of constant movement of men and equipment from shore to ship over the last two weeks, the core of their combat troops remained at the airport.

They declined to say exactly when they would complete the withdrawal, but a Marines sergeant said he did not expect many American troops to be on shore by early today.