Offer to reopen Beirut airport
NZPA-Reuter Beirut A Shi’ite militia leader whose forces seized west Beirut last month lias offered to reopen the city's airport immediately as a goodwill gesture before Lebanon’s national reconciliation talks. The reconciliation conference is scheduled to begin in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Monday and some of the eight rival community leaders invited are expected to travel to Lausanne today. The main opposition representatives, who are supported by Syria, are expected to consult at the week-end in Damascus before going to Switzerland. Beirut Airport, Lebanon’s main link with the outside world, has been closed since February 6, the day Nabih Bern’s “Amal” militia took mainly Muslim west Beirut from the Lebanese Army. Operation of the airport, a prime target for shelling during Lebanon’s successive crises, is considered a barometer of the political climate in Beirut. Mr Berri’s men and allied Druse Muslim militias hold
positions around the airport. It is occupied by units of the Lebanese Army, but they are Muslims who last month responded to a call from Mr Berri not to fight his militias.
Mr Berri said yesterday that he had told the authorities and the national airline the airport could reopen.
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Press, 10 March 1984, Page 10
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200Offer to reopen Beirut airport Press, 10 March 1984, Page 10
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