U.S. Says Syria Seeks Release of ‘Other Seven’

Syria has been trying in earnest to win the release of the seven Americans who were kidnaped in Lebanon before the TWA hijacking on June 14, and it eventually “may well be able to succeed,” a senior Reagan Administration official said Sunday.

But the official, speaking on condition that he not be identified by name, sounded a pessimistic note about the seven Americans, who remained in custody Sunday even after the last 39 of the TWA hostages were freed.

Chance of ‘Comfort’

In view of U.S. threats to retaliate against terrorists in Lebanon, the official said, the presence of the seven hostages may give the captors “the comfort that we may be deterred while Americans are at risk.”

The official also confirmed that the Administration believes that the seven, kidnaped in West Beirut over the past 15 1/2 months, were believed to be held by elements of the radical Hezbollah, or Party of God, although perhaps not the same faction that held some of the 39 Americans who were released Sunday.

He said that, although the freedom of the seven had always been a part of U.S. diplomatic efforts to free the TWA passengers, it may have been a mistake to publicly include them in formal demands that all U.S. hostages in Lebanon be freed. White House spokesman Larry Speakes and Secretary of State George P. Shultz publicly issued such a demand in the past week.

The official told a group of reporters: “Syria tried in earnest to get the seven and we think they’re still trying. I think that over time, Syria may well be able to succeed in that effort.”

He refused to predict when this might occur.

In a televised address from the Oval Office after the release of the 39 TWA hostages, President Reagan said any celebration would be premature. “Let it be clearly understood that the seven Americans still held captive in Lebanon must be released,” he said.

Shultz Praises Assad

Shultz, speaking to reporters at the White House, said he hopes the captors “will respond to the same considerations that must have led to the release of the 39 that were released today.” He added that Syrian President Hafez Assad “has put a considerable amount of willpower into it, and we will be pushing hard.”

The seven are Terry A. Anderson, Mideast correspondent for the Associated Press; William Buckley, a political officer at the U.S. Embassy; David P. Jacobsen of Huntington Beach, administrator of the American University Hospital in West Beirut; Father Lawrence Jenco, head of Catholic Relief Services in Lebanon; Peter Kilburn, a librarian at the American University in Beirut; Thomas Sutherland, dean of the university’s agriculture department, and the Rev. Benjamin Weir, a Presbyterian minister.

Buckley, kidnaped on March 16, 1984, has been held the longest.

Relatives of the remaining seven expressed the fear that, with the release of the TWA passengers, the nation might forget the others unless the Administration continues its efforts.

Expressing disappointment that her father and the other six were not also released, Susan Weir of Santa Barbara said, “We’re hoping now that the contacts and efforts made on the 39 can be used to get the others out.”

Jean Sutherland, whose husband was the most recent kidnaping victim, on June 9, said in Fort Collins, Colo., that she was confident the Administration would “carry through.”

“You just hope a lot and expect nothing--that’s the Beirut philosophy,” said Sutherland, who lived in Lebanon with her husband for two years and plans to return to teach English at the American University in Beirut this fall.

Times staff writer Jonathan Eig also contributed to this story.