Gunmen Seize Arab Employee of ABC in Beirut

Gunmen kidnaped a veteran Lebanese worker for ABC News in Beirut on Saturday, and Druze militiamen and Lebanese soldiers battled for 12 hours in the mountains overlooking the capital.

Beirut police said three unidentified gunmen in a car intercepted Shakib Humaidan, operations manager of ABC’s Beirut bureau, as he drove to Beirut International Airport for a flight to Geneva.

An ABC employee in Beirut said Humaidan was forced into the abductors’ car, which then sped off through the seafront Raouche neighborhood of predominantly Muslim West Beirut.

Humaidan, a 50-year-old Druze, joined ABC 17 years ago. Soon after he was abducted, the network contacted Muslim militia leaders in West Beirut trying to locate him. But hours later, no group had claimed responsibility, and there was still no clue as to who had kidnaped him or why.

Almost a Daily Event

The kidnaping of Lebanese is an almost daily occurrence in the capital. Seven Americans, four Frenchmen and a Briton have disappeared in Lebanon since March, 1984. They are believed to be held by Muslim extremists.

Army troops and the Druze exchanged artillery, mortar, rocket and machine-gun fire across battle lines starting Friday night. No casualty reports were available.

Lebanese military sources said it was the heaviest fighting in the Druze-controlled Shouf Mountains in months. Shells also smashed into a string of hillside Christian and Druze villages far from the battlefronts.

The sources said the violence died down to sporadic shooting with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades Saturday afternoon, about 12 hours after it began. Each side blamed the other for triggering the battle.

Fighting Since 1983

The Shouf Mountains conflict between the Druze, a sect that broke away from mainstream Islam several centuries ago, and Lebanon’s Christian-led government troops started in September, 1983. The combatants have fought sporadically since then in the hills overlooking the capital.

The army also was involved in clashes Saturday in the southern port of Sidon, after a member of the Nasserite movement of the Sunni Muslim community was assassinated by a man in military uniform, police sources said.