Shi’ites say captives have been shifted

Press, 24 June 1985, Page 6

Shi’ites say captives have been shifted

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Shi'ite Muslims holding 40 Americans in Lebanon have moved the hostages to thwart any military action by the United States to rescue them, say militia officials.

Nabih Berri, leader of the main Shi’ite militia, Amal, said yesterday that the United States was preparing “to embark on military action” to free the 37 passengers and three crew members from a Trans World Airlines Boeing 727 hijacked by Shi’ite gunmen on a flight from Athens to Rome on June 14.

He cited reports that United States Navy Tomcat warplanes had flown over Beirut on Saturday and that American military personnel were present in the Christian eastern half of the divided Lebanese capital. In Washington Defence Department officials denied

that Tomcats had flown over Beirut and the Syrianheld Bekaa Valley, in eastern Lebanon, where Shi’ite militants have strongholds. In Washington, the State Department believed that the hostages were still in Beirut. “We have no information that would indicate they have been moved outside of the Beirut area,” a department spokeswoman said yesterday. “As far as we know, they are still in Beirut.”

Amal’s Politburo chief, Akef Haidar, said later that the hijack victims had been moved to new hideouts, possibly outside Beirut, to counter any rescue attempt. “Believe me, today they (the hijackers) changed their (the hostages’) places. They are clever enough not to be detected or let others know where they (the hostages) are... let the American

fleet come and look after (for) them,” said Mr Haidar. Asked whether the hostages had been taken outside Beirut, he replied: “Maybe. I don’t know. Everything is possible.” Mr Berri has guaranteed the hostages’ safety if the hijackers demand that more than 700 mostly Shi’ite prisoners seized by Israeli troops in south Lebanon and held in Israel are released. But he says that he will hand the Americans back to the hijackers if this condition is not met. American officials said yesterday that the crisis was static and frozen. Washington says that it will not pressure Israel into releasing its detainees. Israel has said that it is reluctant to free them because that would appear to be giving in to blackmail. In Geneva, a Government spokesman said that the

Swiss Government had contacted Israel on the deadlocked crisis, its first such move since its offer to Mr Berri to mediate late last week.

Mr Berri had telephoned the Swiss Foreign Minister, Mr Pierre Aubert, to say “he would be ready to bring the hostages to Swiss territory.” Mr Aubert had then met Israel’s ambassador to Berne, Mr Yohanan Meroz, to pass on Mr Berri’s response, the spokesman said. The Swiss Government had not heard from Israel since, he said. In Chicago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who last year helped free a United States Navy navigator-bombardier held in Syria, said yesterday that he would speak to Mr Berri and appeal to him “to do what he can to hasten the day of (the hostages’) release.”