Lebanon Strife Raising Fears of All-Out War

Fighting between Christians and Muslims intensified Friday as Christian units of the Lebanese army battled pro-Syrian militiamen in the mountains east of Beirut. There were fears that the increased fighting would return Lebanon to full-scale civil war.

Elements of the 5th and 8th army brigades were reported to be using American-supplied M-48 tanks against the militiamen from the Syrian National Social Party, which is said to be equipped with Soviet T-54 tanks.

The two sides reportedly fought pitched battles early Friday and resumed the shelling in the evening around Douar, near the town of Bikfaya northeast of the capital.

Tanks Knocked Out

Radio reports said the army knocked out two T-54 tanks, but at a cost of 11 soldiers killed and 26 wounded in the clashes.

Forces of the Syrian-backed party began to move on Bikfaya after the ouster of Elie Hobeika as the head of the main Christian militia, called the Lebanese Forces, by an alliance of militiamen loyal to President Amin Gemayel and Samir Geagea, the chief of staff of the Lebanese Forces.

Gemayel, a Maronite Catholic, had been at odds with Hobeika since the signing of a Syrian-brokered peace agreement in Damascus on Dec. 28 by Hobeika and the heads of the two main Muslim militias. The agreement proposed to give Lebanon’s Muslims political equality with Christians and reduce the president’s powers.

Casualty Toll High

Newspaper accounts Friday of the revolt in Lebanon’s Christian community said 350 persons had been killed and 650 wounded since the uprising began on Monday. Such figures are staggering even by the standards of Lebanon’s long strife.

In Beirut, meantime, three officials of the Spanish Embassy--two Spaniards and a Lebanese-- were kidnaped by unknown gunmen near Beirut airport, a Spanish embassy source said. The kidnaping came just hours after Spain established full diplomatic relations with Israel.

In addition to the fighting Friday between the army and the Syrian National Social Party, clashes were also said to be under way in the north of the country between Lebanese Forces militiamen, now loyal to Geagea, and the Marada Brigade of former President Suleiman Franjieh, which moved into the Batroun district following the uprising.

In all, Lebanese radio stations said, 21 persons were killed Friday and 56 wounded in fighting between forces loyal to Gemayal and pro-Syrian militias.

Talks in Damascus

The leaders of the two major Muslim armed groups, Nabih Berri of the Shia Muslim militia known as Amal, and Walid Jumblatt of the Druze militia called the Progressive Socialist Party, were in Damascus conferring with Syrian leaders on the crisis.

The Syrians were certain to be enraged by Hobeika’s overthrow, since they haggled for months in order to reach agreement on a peace pact.

“Everybody agrees that the next step will be fighting,” said one Lebanese editor. “There will be no more negotiations and no more politics.”

Consequently, there was considerable speculation here that Berri and Jumblatt were discussing military strategy with the Syrians for a possible joint attack against the Christians.

Imminent Attack Seen

The leftist daily As Safir indicated that Syria might give the Muslim militia leaders, whom it supplies, free rein to assault Christian positions and suggested that an all-out attack in the Souq el Gharb region outside Beirut may be imminent.

Druze militiamen were also reported to have returned to their militia offices in West Beirut in full uniform for the first time since last November.

Christian leaders appeared anxious to defuse the crisis with Syria, calling the confrontation between Gemayel and Hobeika an internal Christian problem.

“What happened was internal and has nothing to do with the relationship with Syria,” said Fuad abu Nader, a nephew of Gemayel’s who apparently heads the Falangist Party’s militia.

It was the Falangist Party’s 1,000 fighters who joined with dissident members of the Lebanese Forces, headed by Geagea, to squeeze Hobeika into surrender Wednesday.

Hobeika, who was taken to the Defense Ministry by army troops, left Lebanon for exile in Paris on Thursday after resigning as head of the Lebanese Forces.

He told As Safir’s Paris correspondent that 450 people were killed in the battle to topple him and warned, “He who thinks he has triumphed over us will soon join us.”