Key Christian Lebanon Force Cuts Israel Tie

The Lebanese Forces, the nation’s main Christian rightist militia coalition, Saturday cut its ties with Israel, apparently making a bid for peace with its Muslim foes and seemingly offering an olive branch to Syria, as well.

Elie Hobeika, leader of the Falangist-dominated organization, announced that he is shutting its liaison office in Jerusalem.

After taking part in an emergency executive committee meeting of his group, Hobeika said he is also withdrawing troops from the area of Jezzine in southern Lebanon to avoid further clashes with Shia Muslims. He did not provide any timetable for the pullback.

Muslim and Druze foes of the Lebanese Forces have insisted that the Christians sever all links with Israel as a prelude for negotiations to end the latest round of Lebanon’s decade-long civil strife.

The Lebanese Forces established the liaison office in Jerusalem after Israeli occupation troops withdrew from the mountains east of Beirut.

The action was seen as a direct challenge to the pro-Syria policy of President Amin Gemayel, himself from the leading family of the Falangist Party. Since taking office, Gemayel has moved to a more moderate stance, sometimes putting himself at odds with the 90% Falangist Lebanese Forces.

Syria, for years the main power broker in Lebanon, aided the nation’s Muslims against the Christians in fighting that followed the Israeli withdrawal. It moved quickly to fill the power vacuum the Israelis left and has since stressed that it will not deal with groups linked to Jerusalem.

Israeli Not Surprised

The Israeli Foreign Ministry--which celebrated the opening of the Christians’ office with great ceremony in May, 1984--had no immediate comment on the announcement of its closing. An unidentified Israeli government official said the move was expected and attributed it to Syrian pressure.

Hobeika had made offers for peace with Syria and his Muslim rivals on May 9, when he was elected president of the Lebanese Forces’ executive committee. Muslim leaders stressed then that they wanted the Christians to distance themselves from Israel.

On Saturday, Hobeika called for a final, comprehensive cease-fire throughout Lebanon and said he has ordered his militiamen in southern Lebanon to quit their positions.

A three-week Shia Muslim-led offensive began April 28 and dislodged thousands of Christians from coastal villages south of Beirut, driving them into a mountain redoubt around Jezzine, situated about 30 miles southeast of the capital.

Hobeika also called for a quick meeting of a security committee made up of Lebanese army officers and officials from the main warring militias, in a bid to map out a cease-fire formula that would reunite Christian East Beirut with the Muslim western sector of the city.

He said all crossings between East and West Beirut, closed by fighting for two weeks, must be reopened.

Fighting Goes On

Soon after the rightist Christian coalition moved to placate its adversaries, Muslim militiamen entrenched around the coastal city of Sidon exchanged tank and artillery fire with Christian soldiers of the Israeli-armed South Lebanon Army. That group is not affiliated with the Lebanese Forces.

Two people were reportedly wounded in the outbreak of fighting east of Sidon, the key center of southern Lebanon.

In Beirut, Christian and Muslim militias battled all night Friday, with residential neighborhoods pounded by artillery and rocket fire. The 14-hour duel killed four people and wounded 30.

Nightlong barrages, followed by morning lulls, have been a daily occurrence in Beirut over the last few weeks of fighting. More than 100 people have been killed and almost 600 wounded since late April.

The militias fire at each other across a three-mile-long demarcation area of fortifications and burned-out buildings known as the Green Line, which has divided the capital since 1975.