Muslim Militias Seize and Loot Sidon Villages : As Christians Flee South Lebanese Area, Youths Take ‘War Booty’ From Homes of Old Enemies

Muslim militias Friday seized a chain of villages abandoned by Christian militias, and Palestinian refugees swarmed in behind them, stripping the houses bare in a four-hour frenzy of looting.

Tens of thousands of Christians fled deeper into the hill country east of this ancient port south of Beirut.

Young Palestinian guerrillas and impoverished refugees from nearby camps ran through the narrow, smoke-filled streets. They broke into houses, some of which were still burning, and carried off everything that was loose or could be ripped free--refrigerators, radios, sofas, carpets, chandeliers, even toys and tableware.

“This is war booty,” said a young guerrilla wearing a cowboy hat and clutching a chandelier in the streets of Miye ou Miye, one of the communities overrun.

“We’re not stealing,” another said, tossing furniture into an old pickup truck. “We’re only doing what the Christians have been doing to us for a long time.”

At least five people were reported killed and 35 wounded in scattered clashes as the Muslim militiamen and Palestinian guerrillas surged into the towns above Sidon.

The Maronite Catholic archbishop of Sidon, Ibrahim Helou, appealed for intervention by the Beirut government, making his plea to Christian President Amin Gemayel and Sunni Muslim Premier Rashid Karami.

“Save us quickly,” he said in a message to Gemayel. “The blood of our men, women, elderly people and children is a trust for which you are responsible.”

The government leaders met in emergency session. In a statement afterward, Karami called the southern attacks a mistake. He said militia leaders have pledged to “take measures to put an end to these exaggerated acts and provide security for our brothers.”

Elsewhere in Beirut, Christians and Muslims exchanged mortar, rocket-propelled grenade and machine-gun fire across the line dividing their sectors of the capital. Police said seven people were wounded.

The Muslim-Palestinian push out of Sidon tightened the ring around the largest Christian enclave in southern Lebanon. It centers on the mountain town of Jezzine, 15 miles to the east, from which Israeli occupation forces withdrew Wednesday.

Christian radio stations reported as many as 75,000 of their people fleeing toward Jezzine. Witnesses reported that as many as 30,000 displaced persons were camped in the hills near the Christian stronghold.

Reporters saw dozens of families waiting to be evacuated by boat from a makeshift port just north of Sidon and taken to East Beirut, the capital’s Christian sector.

Siege by Christians Over

The Muslim push came after a monthlong Christian siege of Sidon. That siege ended Wednesday when Christian gunners withdrew from the hills dominating the city, fearful of being isolated as the Israelis pulled out from Jezzine and other positions facing Syrian troops in the Bekaa Valley.

At least 113 people have been killed and more than 450 wounded in a month of fighting in and around Sidon, Lebanon’s third largest city.

The commander of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army, Maj. Gen. Antoine Lahad, threatened to start shelling Sidon with long-range artillery mounted around Jezzine, a town of 20,000 population, unless the Muslims and their Palestinian allies halt their offensive.

Tank-borne Druze militiamen, also allied with the Muslims, took over abandoned Israeli positions in the Barouk Mountains east of the town.

Late reports indicated that the Palestinians have seized the Christian villages of Miye ou Miye and Darb es Sim and that the Muslims control Qayaa, Qinnant, Aabra, Hlaliye and Bramiye.

Christians in the village of Maghdouche, south of Sidon, surrendered all their weapons to a joint force of Lebanese army troops and the main Shia Muslim militia, Amal, without a fight.

Chaotic Conditions

It was a different story in the villages captured by the Muslim-led alliance. Miye ou Miye, for example, was taken after a pre-dawn battle, apparently when the Christian defenders ran out of ammunition.

After the fighting, hundreds of Palestinians swarmed into the town and picked it clean. Mile-long convoys of trucks, cars and taxis filled with plunder rolled down the hills from Miye ou Miye. Lebanese army soldiers and Amal militia officials set up roadblocks to halt the looting, but few people seemed to take notice of them.

During the festival of looting, a guerrilla tried to grab cameras from journalists. When they resisted, he growled, “No pictures! No pictures!” and took their film.

Door locks were shot off and safes were opened with machine-gun bursts.

Strange Garb

Bearded gunmen emerged from houses draped in women’s gowns, even in curtains. One ran out with a guitar in one hand, an assault rifle in the other.

A small boy paraded before photographers, wearing the headgear of a Greek Orthodox priest.

Another youth, as reported by Reuters, emerged from a wrecked house in black Maronite robes with a large cross around his neck. He rang a small bell and carried plastic lillies, apparently from a looted household shrine.

A middle-aged woman near a burning car directed a team of booty-seekers. “Where’s the strongbox?” she yelled at a teen-age boy carrying a big carton piled high with clothing.

“Upstairs,” he said, pointing to a two-story building with windows blown out by gunfire.

“You idiot!” she cried. “Somebody’s going to steal it!”