Gemayel village under fire

Press, 17 January 1986, Page 6

Gemayel village under fire

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Syrian-backed militia fought their way towards President Amin Gemayel’s mountain village of Bikfaya as rival Christian groups battled with tanks and artillery in and around east Beirut yesterday. A Lebanese Army statement said three soldiers were killed and five wounded in an attack launched from Syrian-held ground on their position 2 kilometres from Bikfaya.

Defying the threat, Mr Gemayel later met his advisers in Bikfaya, said Christian Voice of Lebanon radio.

Battles between followers of the “Lebanese Forces” militia chief, Elie Hobeika, and those of his hardline Chief of Staff, Samir Geagea, convulsed Christian areas, killing at least 45 people and injuring 250, militia sources said.

Mr Hobeika was trapped in his headquarters for most of the day by Geagea’s men and fighters loyal to Gemayel.

Fighting eased in the Beirut area after a late afternoon ceasefire and Voice of Lebanon said Mr Hobeika finally left under Army escort with 250 of his men. They were taken to the Ministry of Defence near Mr Gemayel’s Baabda palace above Beirut, it said. The former ‘‘Lebanese Forces” commander, Fuad Abu Nader, earlier seized the Voice of Lebanon radio from Mr Hobeika’s men. Abu Nader, a nephew of Gemayel, said in an emotional peace appeal: “We are committing suicide and this is. forbidden.”Geagea and Mr Gemayel had moved against Mr Hobeika because of Christian opposition to the Syrian-sponsored peace pact he signed last month with Druse and Shi’ite Muslim militias in a bid to end Lebanon’s 10-year-old civil war. The agreement proposes giving Muslims more political power and cutting the prerogatives of the Chris-tian-held presidency.