Keesing's World News Archives

Keesing's World News Archives http://www.keesings.com/print/search?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=print&kssp...

Summary and key dates

Release of Lt. Goodman (Jan. 3, 1984). Death of Maj. Haddad (Jan. 14). Attacks on Israeli forces in south Lebanon and Israeli response (December 1983 to March 1984). Reinstatement of Druse soldiers in Lebanese Army (Jan. 26). Capture of west Beirut by Amal and Druse forces (February). Resignation of Wazzan Cabinet (Feb. 5). Withdrawal of multinational force (February and March). Abrogation of troop withdrawal accord with Israel (March 5). National reconciliation talks in Lausanne (March 12–20). Announcement of “buffer zone” proposal for Beirut (April 9).

Following the adjournment of the national reconciliation talks in Switzerland in November 1983 [see 32645 A], a combined offensive by the Shia Amal and Druse Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) militias succeeded in driving Lebanese government forces out of predominantly Moslem west Beirut at the beginning of February 1984. The Cabinet of Mr. Chafiq al-Wazzan resigned on Feb. 5, and all four contingents of the multinational peacekeeping force were withdrawn from Lebanon by the end of March.

security developments in December 1983

A car bomb explosion partially demolished a block of flats in the Shia quarter of southern Beirut on Dec. 5, 1983, killing 14 people and wounding over 80. Eight United States Marines were killed on the same day when the bunker in which they were sheltering took a direct hit from a mortar round fired by unidentified assailants.

In a telephone call to the Agence France-Presse news agency, a man claimed responsibility for the attack on the flats, which he described as a “barbecue operation”, on behalf of the “Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners”, a militant Christian group which had previously claimed attacks on Moslem and Palestinian targets.

The Foreign Ministers of the four nations whose contingents together made up the multinational force (i. e. France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the USA), at a meeting in Brussels (Belgium) on Dec. 8, agreed that each contingent should be empowered to retaliate in self-defence, and reiterated their intention of maintaining the force in Lebanon (although Signor Giulio Andreotti, the Italian Foreign Minister, announced that his country's contingent would be reduced by stages to 1,100 personnel).

On the same day the US Defence Department announced that 300 Marines had been redeployed to ships offshore in an attempt to reduce their vulnerability, while Marines also launched a tank assault to destroy a fortified position from which they claimed they had been under fire.

After Syrian anti-aircraft units in central Lebanon had opened fire on US F-14 reconnaissance aircraft, the battleship New Jersey on Dec. 14 shelled Syrian positions 15 miles east of Beirut. Over 80 16-inch shells were fired in the action, which was described by a US spokesman as being “in defence of tactical reconnaissance missions”. The following day, US ships shelled positions held by the Druse and Amal militias, while two French soldiers were killed and others wounded in a clash near their headquarters.

President Reagan issued a report to the US Congress on Dec. 14 in which he defended the presence of US Marines in Lebanon and claimed that “the international credibility of the USA and its partners” was at stake

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there.

The report, which had been prepared by Mr. George Shultz, Secretary of State, and Mr. Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defence, warned that any “premature withdrawal” by the Marines would ‘call into question the resolve of the West to help the Free World defend itself ‘. The report was issued to comply with a clause in a congressional resolution on the multinational force passed in September which had inter alia called for regular presidential statements on the situation [see page 32534].

A congressional report published on Dec. 20 on the bomb attack on the US Marine headquarters in October [see pages 32646-47] concluded that “very serious errors of judgment” had resulted in a failure to take measures to prevent such an attack.

In particular, the report condemned the ineffectiveness of barrier devices erected around the headquarters perimeter, and it also criticized Gen. Paul X Kelley, the Marine Corps commandant, for giving “inaccurate, erroneous and misleading” evidence on the bombing to the House of Representatives armed services committee in November. The US Defence Department's official report on the bombing, issued on Dec. 28, also criticized a lack of preparedness at the base, and added that there was “an urgent need for a reassessment of alternative means to achieve US objectives in Lebanon”.

Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, the US special presidential envoy in the Middle East, met with Mr. Abdel Halim Khaddam, the Syrian Foreign Minister, in Damascus on Dec. 14 for talks on the continuing clashes between the two countries (which had led on Dec. 4 to the shooting down of two US reconnaissance aircraft-see page 32648). Mr. Rumsfeld travelled on to Israel for discussions with Mr. Itzhak Shamir, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Mr. David Kimche, director-general of the Foreign Ministry. President Amin Gemayel of Lebanon made a two-day visit to London on Dec. 14–15, during which he met Mrs Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister, and appealed against any “premature withdrawal” of the British contingent of the multinational force.

In implementation of an undertaking given on Dec. 4 by the Druse leader Mr. Walid Jumblatt [ibid], Druse units on Dec. 15 permitted the evacuation of 2,500 Christians from the village of Deir el-Qamar, which had been surrounded by Druse forces since September 1983. The evacuees, including several hundred Phalangist militiamen, were transported in Israeli Army trucks to Christian-controlled areas south of the Israeli defensive line along the Awali river.

After talks in Damascus with representatives of the PSP, Amal, the Lebanese Forces (i. e. the Christian Phalangist militia) and the Lebanese Army, Mr. Khaddam announced on Dec. 16 that in order to “facilitate the national dialogue”, an agreement had been reached to reopen Beirut airport (which had been closed due to shelling since Dec. 1 and to spare population centres and public utilities from further fighting.

One French soldier was killed and 14 wounded when explosives were detonated outside the French base on Dec. 21, and a smaller bomb also caused damage, but no casualties, at a hotel frequented by US Marines. Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by AL Jihad al-Islami (“Islamic Holy War”—the organization which had claimed the attacks on the US and French headquarters in October).

Violent clashes broke out in southern Beirut on Dec. 24 when the Army attempted to take control of three positions vacated by French troops near the Chatila refugee camp. After three days of fighting, Amal, with Druse artillery support, forced the Army units to withdraw, and a ceasefire was declared on Dec. 28 after a meeting of the security committee (established in September-see page 32535). An earlier scheduled meeting of the committee had been postponed after the Amal representative refused to attend as a protest against the government's refusal to lift press censorship.

Release of Lt. Goodman

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Lt. Robert Goodman, a (black) US pilot captured by Syrian troops after his reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over Lebanon on Dec. 4 [see page 32648], was released on Jan. 3, 1984, after talks between Syrian leaders and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the US black rights activist who was currently seeking the Democratic nomination for the US presidential election.

After his arrival in Syria on Dec. 30, the Rev. Jackson had held talks with President Assad on Jan. 2 and Mr. Khaddam on Jan. 3, following which the Syrian Foreign Ministry announced that Lt. Goodman was being released “in order to facilitate the withdrawal of American troops from Lebanon”. Acknowledging the Rev. Jackson's role in the operation, President Reagan expressed “gratitude and admiration” for his “personal mission of mercy”. President Reagan also stated that the USA “bore no hostility to Syria”, and added that he had written to President Assad and expressed his willingness to hold a summit meeting with him.

Death and replacement of Maj. Haddad

Maj. Saad Haddad, commander of the Israeli-backed “Free Lebanon” militia (usually known as the “Haddad militia”), which had controlled a largely Christian semi-autonomous enclave centred on Marjayoun since 1979 [see pages 30917; 32163], died of cancer on Jan. 14.

Born in 1936, Maj. Haddad had been drafted into the Lebanese Army in the late 1950s, and had received training in France and the United States. He was wounded in a skirmish with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrillas in 1968. During the civil war of 1975–76, Maj. Haddad was commander of the Army in southern Lebanon. In the wake of the Israeli invasion in 1978 [see 29464 A], he established control of a nine-mile strip of territory along the Israeli border, and the following year, with Israeli backing, proclaimed the “Free Republic of Lebanon”. Expelled from the Army, he led his soldiers in clashes with both the PLO and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). After the Israeli invasion of 1982, he further extended the area under his control [see page 32163]. Aware that he was dying, the Lebanese government reinstated him in the Army with full rights on Jan. 4.

Maj. Haddad's funeral was attended by Mr. Shamir, who eulogized him as “a great Lebanese patriot and true friend of Israel”, Mr. Ariel Sharon (former Israeli Defence Minister who had worked closely with Maj. Haddad), and Mr. Shimon Peres, leader of the opposition Labour Party in Israel. The funeral was boycotted by Lebanese government officials.

It was announced on April 4 that Maj. Haddad's successor, whose authority would be recognized by the Lebanese government, would be Maj.-Gen. Antoine Lahad, a Maronite Christian and member of former President Camille Chamoun's National Liberal Party, who had been Army commander in the mountain region until his retirement in 1983.

Increasing unrest in southern Lebanon

Israeli forces south of the Awali river came under an increasing number of guerrilla attacks during late 1983 and early 1984, while there was also evidence of more widespread civilian opposition to the Israeli occupation of the area. In response, the Israeli Air Force launched a number of strikes against what it claimed were guerrilla bases in central and eastern Lebanon.

Israeli aircraft raided positions reportedly occupied by members of “Islamic Amal” (a militant breakaway group from Amal led by Mr. Hussain Mussavi) near Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley on Dec. 21. A larger raid, involving at least four aircraft, was staged on the outskirts of Baalbek and nearby villages on Jan. 4, 1984. The action, which was described by an Israeli spokesman as a series of “surgical strikes against two isolated terrorist installations”, reportedly destroyed a barracks occupied by Islamic Amal and Hezbollah (“Party of God”-see page 32645).

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Witnesses to the raid, who included International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers, claimed that bombs had also hit a Palestinian refugee camp, a sheep market and a school, and that the high level of casualties (estimated at 110 killed and 400 wounded) was due to the aircraft returning for a second strike shortly after rescue work had begun.

A one-day strike called by Shia religious leaders in Sidon on Dec. 29 triggered a wave of protest against the Israeli occupation in Moslem towns and villages. Protestors staged “sit-ins” at mosques, and in Sidon the (Sunni) Mufti of Lebanon joined the head of the Shia Higher Council in a demonstration at the town's principal mosque. In what was described by an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) spokesman as a move “to cool down the local people”, the Awali river crossing points were closed from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2, 1984.

The French government announced on Jan. 2 that 482 troops who had been transferred from UNIFIL to the multinational peacekeeping force in September 1982 would shortly return to duties with UNIFIL.

Tension remained high in the south during January, and by mid-February Israeli forces were subjected to an average of two guerrilla attacks per day. The attacks coincided with a decline in effectiveness of locally- raised Israeli-backed Moslem militias, many of whose members had reportedly deserted to Beirut to join Amal after several militia leaders had been assassinated. There were also reports at this time that the IDF was transporting into the south units of the “ Guardians of the Cedars” militia (a 2,000-strong Maronite Christian force led by Col. Etienne Saqr and affiliated to the Lebanese Front, the Phalangist-dominated political alliance).

The northern Israeli village of Metulla (Galilee) came under attack from Katyusha rockets fired from inside Lebanon on Feb. 9.

The Israeli Air Force attacked positions in Bhamdoun, Hammana and also Damour [see map on page 31920] on Feb. 19. While an Israeli spokesman described the raids as being directed against “terrorist command posts”, witnesses claimed that they had struck Druse and Moslem militia positions, and the attack on Damour in particular was seen as a warning signal to the Druse forces not to advance any further south [see below].

Four people were killed and 25 injured when IDF troops opened fire on a crowd of stone-throwing Shia youths in the village of Marraka outside Sidon on Feb. 24. The crowd had apparently attempted to prevent Israeli soldiers arresting residents in the village. In guerrilla attacks on Feb. 27, four Israeli soldiers were killed or wounded in an ambush in Gazieh, near Sidon, and two died when their patrol came under fire in Arab-Salim, near Nabatiyeh. The attacks followed a call by Shia religious leaders for a fight against “the Zionist enemy”.

Six people died and many more were injured on March 28 when tanks fired into a stone-throwing crowd in Jibchit, 17 miles south of the Israeli front line. The Israeli government denied allegations that the IDF was reponsible, claiming that the tanks had been manned by Phalangist militiamen. Witnesses to the incident asserted, however, that the vehicles had flown Israeli flags and carried IDF markings.

Several Israeli troops were wounded in guerrilla attacks in Nabatiyeh, Sidon, and on the Litani river bridge crossing on April 3, following which the IDF again restricted the flow of traffic across the Awali from the north.

Proposed disengagement plan-Reinstatement of Druse soldiers

Lebanese government officials stated on Jan. 5 that the Israeli and Syrian governments as well as the Druse, Amal and Lebanese Forces militias had approved a disengagement plan providing for (i) the separation of the warring factions on all fronts; (ii) the resumption of Lebanese Army control over a strip of land along the coast stretching 27 miles north and south of Beirut; and (iii) the patrolling of the mountain region and the Shia

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quarter in southern Beirut by the police. Implementation of the plan, however, was delayed by continued fighting in Beirut and the nearby hills.

Clashes were reported between Druse and Phalangist forces in the village of Kharroub, east of the city, between Army units and Druse fighters for the control of Ein Ksour, to the south of Beirut, and between Amal and the Army in the southern suburbs, while there was also renewed fighting in Tripoli between the Islamic Unity Movement (whose allegiance had fluctuated in recent months-see pages 32650-51; 32645; and the Syrian-backed “ Arab Red Knights” militia (the military wing of the Arab Democratic Party-see page 32164.

A US Marine was killed on Jan. 6 when helicopters transporting a Marine detachment came under fire as they tried to land. On Jan. 9, a French soldier died and two were wounded when unidentified assailants attacked the guard post outside the contingent's base. Two days later, a bomb severely damaged the French cultural centre in Tripoli.

As part of the continuing diplomatic effort to end the conflict, a meeting was held in Riyadh (the Saudi capital) on Jan. 10 between Dr. Elie Salem, the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Khaddam, and Prince Saud al Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister, during which Mr. Khaddam reportedly insisted that the Lebanese government must renounce its May 1983 troop withdrawal accord with Israel [see 32408 A]-which had never been formally ratified by the Lebanese government.

The continuing role of the multinational force was discussed at a meeting on Jan. 12 between President Assad and Sir Geoffrey Howe, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. During talks with Mr. Rumsfeld on Jan. 14, President Assad stressed that Syrian troops would remain in Lebanon until both the multinational force and the Israeli Army had withdrawn.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in early January, Maj.-Gen. Moshe Levi, the Israeli Chief of Staff, commented that a continued Syrian armed presence in Lebanon would not necessarily be detrimental to the balance of power in the region.

During January both Mr. Jumblatt and Mr. Nabi Berri, leader of Amal, hardened their positions to the point of demanding the resignation of President Gemayel.

In an interview with the Beirut daily As-Safir on Jan. 12, Mr. Jumblatt demanded as a condition for disengagement the abolition of press censorship, the end of the curfew restrictions in Beirut, and the reinstatement of Druse soldiers who had deserted from Lebanese Army units to join PSP forces during the fighting in September [see page 32645]. In an interview with the Financial Times on Jan. 23, however, he stated that there was no hope of a permanent ceasefire or political reform so long as President Gemayel remained in office.

In response to an appeal by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Wazzan stated on Jan. 26 that all Druse soldiers who had left their units would be reinstated, and that those who rejoined the Army would be eligible for promotion. The announcement was rejected by a Druse spokesman as a political manoeuvre.

Fighting around Beirut intensified in mid-January, and there were several heavy and prolonged exchanges of shelling between Druse gunners and Army and Phalangist units. During shelling of the Christian areas of east Beirut on Jan. 16, 22 people were killed and 65 wounded.

For the first time in several weeks the airport also came under fire, and on Jan. 16 the USS New Jersey shelled Druse positions after the Marine base near the airport was hit. One Marine was killed and two wounded when their positions came under fire from mortars, rockets and small arms on Jan. 30.

Mr. Malcolm Kerr, president of the American University of Beirut, was shot dead on Jan. 18. Responsibility was claimed by Al Jihad al-Islami, who stated that Mr. Kerr was “a victim of the American presence in

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Lebanon”, and added that “we vow that not a single American or Frenchman will remain on this soil”. Al Jihad al-Islami also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping two days previously of Mr. Hussein Farrash, the Saudi consul in Beirut, who they claimed was “being tried by Islamic law”.

Mr. Frank Regier, an engineering professor at the American University, was abducted by unidentified gunmen on the university campus on Feb. 10. On April 15 he was released unharmed, together with a French architect kidnapped on Feb. 5, after Amal militiamen raided a house in west Beirut, where the two men had been held.

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