Refugees Pack Town; Muslims Advance : Jezzine: New Crisis Point for Christians in Lebanon

Snuggled away in a protective mountain notch, Jezzine seems at first glance to be as safe and enduring as a medieval fortress.

The weathered facades of the buildings seem to blend into the cliff faces from which they protrude, as if nature were grafting the architecture to the rock.

A famous waterfall, the distinctive Jezzine cutlery, the herds of tar-black goats grazing the mountainside--the source of Jezzine’s delicious cheese--all harken back to the days when Lebanon was known as the Switzerland of the Mideast.

Yet this once-prosperous town, a popular Christian resort, threatens to become the scene of Lebanon’s next tragedy.

Already, the town’s normal population of about 5,000 has been swollen by the arrival of 8,000 Christian refugees who took shelter here after an onslaught of Muslim militias two months ago forced them to flee their homes in the villages east of the port city of Sidon.

The military situation is also precarious, with an army of loosely allied Muslim forces advancing to the town of Kfar Falous just down the road, where they have been stopped for the moment by fighters of the South Lebanon Army, a small, mostly Christian militia that has Israeli support.

The “crisis of Jezzine,” as it has become known in Lebanon, is now front-page news, with delegations of the town’s prominent citizens shuttling to Beirut and Damascus in an effort to find a solution.

On Wednesday, Lebanese President Amin Gemayel called in the ambassadors from the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council--the United States, Britain, France, the Soviet Union and China--to appeal for help in getting Israel to force the South Lebanon Army to withdraw from the area.

“We never asked for war,” lamented Suleiman abu Zakhm, the manager of Jezzine’s most exclusive hotel. “We are a peaceful village.”

Vacationers Scarce

Luckily for Jezzine and for the refugees, few Lebanese have much stomach these days for a summer vacation within Lebanon, so many of the town’s picturesque vacation homes were vacant, Now they are housing the homeless.

Most of the refugees were able to escape with their cars, and now Jezzine’s streets are clogged with Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, the emblems of Lebanon’s middle class. Many of them are parked outside buildings where families share a single room.

“Our villages are finished. Our houses are ruined. Our churches are destroyed, and we have money for only one or two months in our pockets,” said Antoine Deeb, a refugee from Salhiye, a village just east of Sidon.

Milad Jerius, an olive grower, added that most of the refugees had left home on a moment’s notice, without clothes or belongings. “Most of us make our living from the land,” he said. “We need a quick solution.”

Help From Jumblatt

The refugee problem was temporarily eased by an informal arrangement with Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon’s Druze community and minister of state for southern Lebanon. He has permitted convoys carrying food to pass unmolested to Jezzine through his Shouf mountain enclave and has allowed the refugees to travel to Christian areas of Beirut.

While Jumblatt has given no explanation for the assistance, the Druze--members of an offshoot Islamic sect--historically have supported the Christians in Jezzine as a buffer between themselves and the Shia Muslim villages to the south.

Jezzine’s latest problems can be traced back to March, when thousands of Muslim refugees were forced from their homes in the villages east of Sidon by the right-wing Christian militia known as the Lebanese Forces. While it is not entirely clear which side started the fighting, the Christians were soon raining shells down on the port city.

Christians Retreat

Although the Muslim groups in Sidon--mainly the Shia Muslim militia known as Amal and Sunni Muslim fighters representing the local Nasserite Party--were initially taken by surprise, they soon turned the tables and had the Christians retreating up the narrow mountain road toward Jezzine.

Much to everyone’s surprise--and the horror of Jezzine’s rapidly growing population--the new leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, then abruptly announced that his troops were withdrawing from southern Lebanon. Within days, they had been pulled back to Beirut by boat from the southern port of Naqoura.

“If we saw Geagea now we would all kill him,” said refugee Antoine Deeb. “We know he is responsible for this situation. It was clear all along that there would be a Muslim reaction. . . . “

The Lebanese Forces’ positions were largely taken over by the South Lebanon Army. Israel hopes it will be able to guard a so-called “security zone” in southern Lebanon just north of the Israeli border, now that regular Israeli forces have nearly completed their withdrawn from Lebanon.

Terms for Withdrawal

Gen. Antoine Lahad, the South Lebanon Army commander, said in an interview earlier this week that he would withdraw from Jezzine only if a strong Lebanese army unit moved in to replace him or if the town’s leaders unanimously asked him to leave.

Lahad is believed to have about 200 militiamen in the Jezzine area, and they are understood to be supported by about 300 men who are members of the Lebanese Forces but did not withdraw with Geagea.

Lebanese groups have been almost unanimous in calling for the departure from the town of Lahad and his men, even President Gemayel, who is Christian.

The pro-Syrian newspaper Al Shark remarked, “Whereas all Lebanese are determined to save Jezzine, the hireling Lahad is determined to transform the waterfall into a flow of blood.”

In addition to Lahad’s own reluctance to leave, the leaders of Jezzine say they want him and his men to stay until an acceptable means can be found to insert a neutral Lebanese army unit between the Muslim forces and the town.

Plans for Deployment

So far, most plans have called for elements of the Lebanese army’s 1st Brigade, now stationed in the Bekaa Valley, and the 7th Brigade, from northern Lebanon, to be stationed in the town as a replacement for Lahad’s force.

Edmund Rizk, a member of Parliament from Jezzine, said in an interview here this week that he is not willing to ask Lahad’s forces to leave without first receiving “a double guarantee” from Syria about Jezzine’s political and military future.

The Lebanese army’s 1st Brigade is heavily influenced by Syria, Rizk said, and the fear in the town is that after the South Lebanon Army withdraws, the situation will be similar to what happened in Sidon two months ago, when elements of the Lebanese army fought alongside the Muslims.

Rizk said that as evidence of Syria’s good intentions, the Christians are demanding that the brigades travel to Jezzine by way of the coastal highway through Sidon. Thus, the army could inhibit Muslim militias in the region that might try to fill the vacuum in the town as Lahad’s forces withdraw.

The Lebanese government has suggested bringing the troops directly from the Bekaa Valley without passing through Sidon.

Security Concerns

But Farid Sirhal, another Parliament deputy from Jezzine, said, “We cannot ask Lahad to leave before we have some other guarantee.”

Lahd is reportedly interested in keeping the heights overlooking the town--the areas of Jebel Safi and Kfar Houne--as part of the “security zone” that his militiamen will patrol. Sirhal said that will present new problems.

“If the army comes,” Sirhal said, “it will be too near, there will be fighting, and it will be Jezzine that will suffer.”