Gemayel-Syria Ties Spark Militia Revolt

A revolt erupted in Lebanon’s Christian community Wednesday over President Amin Gemayel’s policy of tightening the country’s ties to Syria.

The revolt was led by Samir Geagea, the commander of northern units of the Lebanese Forces, the primary Christian militia.

Personnel loyal to Geagea seized control of the Lebanese Forces radio station Wednesday and broadcast communiques announcing that they had taken over large areas of Lebanon’s Christian heartland.

Geagea’s troops closed the coastal highway running north to Tripoli. One person was reported killed during the takeover.

Schools, Shops Closed

Schools and shops were closed in Christian East Beirut, but the area appeared calm. Streets were eerily deserted except for militiamen who took up positions on street corners--a sight that has been missing in East Beirut since an all-party security plan took effect in the capital last July.

The Associated Press, citing sources in the Christian community, reported that Geagea’s forces took control of the three major East Beirut garrisons of the Lebanese Forces, but they said that Geagea ordered his fighters to avoid friction with other Christian militiamen.

The immediate trigger of the crisis appeared to be Geagea’s reluctance to close a checkpoint along the northern coastal highway at Borbara.

Geagea had been demanding that closure of the lucrative roadblock, where drivers must pay tolls to the Lebanese Forces, be linked to an overall security plan for northern Lebanon that would allow displaced Christian families to return to their homes.

But Syria, which has increasingly played the role of mediator among the various Lebanese factions, insisted that the checkpoint be closed as part of a security plan for the highway.

Leaders of Gemayel’s Falangist Party have been pressed recently into issuing denials that Gemayel was leading Lebanon into union with Syria. The rebellion has also sparked speculation here that Syrian troops might be dispatched to put down the revolt but there was no mention of the reports in the official media either in Beirut or Damascus.

Skips Chernenko Rites

The feuding among rival Christian factions could have serious implications for Lebanon and efforts to halt 10 years of factional fighting. The crisis is so severe that Gemayel was forced at the last minute to drop his plans to attend Wednesday’s funeral in Moscow of Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.

On Wednesday, 61 Christian leaders were flown by helicopter to Gemayel’s palace in suburban Baabda where they issued a communique denouncing any attempt “to take up arms against the authority of the state.”

A seven-member committee of Christian leaders was assembled to attempt a reconciliation among the Christian leaders, but Geagea remained at his headquarters at Aamchit.

Geagea was expelled from the Falangist Party on Monday and the leader of the Lebanese Forces, Fuad abu Nader, announced early Wednesday that the militia had “recovered the independence of its decision” and cut all its ties with the party.

Geagea and another Lebanese Forces leader, Elie Hobeika, the group’s security chief, were reported to have set up a Falangist Youth Organization to challenge the party’s leadership.