Christians Stall Muslim Drive in S. Lebanon

Christian militias unleashed a barrage of artillery and tank fire Tuesday to stall a Muslim offensive aimed at their encircled mountain stronghold in southern Lebanon.

From positions in the hills around Kfar Falous, the embattled Christians opened up with artillery and deployed Israeli-supplied Sherman tanks in an effort to hold off Popular Liberation Army troops.

At least three Muslim militiamen were killed and 19 wounded in heavy fighting, hospitals in nearby Sidon reported. There was no word on Christian casualties.

Muslim Campaign

Muslim militias last week began a push into southern Lebanon as occupying Israeli troops, which invaded in June, 1982, engaged in a phased withdrawal from the region.

Beirut state radio reported earlier in the day that the Popular Liberation Army of leftist and Muslim militias had stormed Kfar Falous. But reporters found Muslim fighters pinned down three miles west of the Christian strongpoint at Salhiye, on Sidon’s outskirts.

The mainly Christian South Lebanon Army counterattacked with their U.S.-made Sherman tanks, deployed for the first time since the Muslim offensive.

The Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army, led by former Lebanese Army Maj. Gen. Antoine Lahd, joined forces with hundreds of Christian Lebanese Forces fighters for the counterattack.

On the other side, Druze fighters, backed by Syrian-supplied tanks, were seen moving up the hills around Salhiye to reinforce the stalled Muslim forces.

Ten of thousands of Christians, including up to 50,000 refugees from villages overrun in the last week, are trapped in Jezzine, six miles east of Kfar Falous. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has pledged to spare Jezzine from attack.

Fighting in Beirut

In the Lebanese capital of Beirut, rival militiamen traded mortar and artillery fire along the so-called Green Line dividing the city into mainly Christian and Muslim sectors.

Police said five people were wounded in the pre-dawn shelling and at least three people were killed, including a Lebanese soldier, and 14 were wounded when the fighting resumed in the afternoon.

The army closed all main roads across the Green Line. At least two ships were hit in the city’s port, forcing most vessels to steam out to sea.

Military sources also reported clashes between Druze gunmen and Christian-led army units in the Shouf, a mountain range overlooking Beirut.

Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, senior Israeli military officials said Syrian soldiers have made some scouting forays into territory vacated by Israeli troops in southeastern Lebanon but that there has been no serious troop movement so far.

However, the daily Haaretz newspaper reported that senior military sources expect Syria to move more troops into the evacuated area soon. The newspaper did not identify its sources.