Beirut Call Says U.S., French Hostages to Pay

A telephone caller claiming to speak for the Islamic Jihad terrorist group today threatened to make American and French hostages held in Lebanon “pay” for purported Western pressure put on Syria for their release.

The anonymous caller also said the number of American and French hostages held by the shadowy Islamic Jihad, or Islamic Holy War, has “decreased a lot because a number of them have been liquidated.”

“The remaining hostages with us will be the first to pay the price,” if Western countries “do not stop maneuvering against Syria and Islamic Jihad,” the Arabic-speaking caller told a Western news agency office in Muslim West Beirut.

9 Abductions Claimed

The group has claimed it held five American and four French hostages kidnaped in Lebanon during the last two years.

An editor of the agency, who spoke on condition that neither he nor his wire service be identified, said the caller did not give names or the exact number of hostages who might have been killed.

There was no immediate way to authenticate the call, but a statement from Islamic Jihad on March 10 raised doubts about today’s communication. Islamic Jihad had said that other factions had been falsely using its name and that all future announcements would be typewritten and accompanied by hostages’ photographs.

Pressure on Assad

The caller claiming to represent Islamic Jihad said reports have been increasing about Syrian efforts to release the American and French hostages and “we are aware of the pressures brought to bear on (Syrian) President Hafez Assad.”

He said the United States, France and two Arab countries he did not name were involved in these pressures and warned, “We shall make the earth shake under their feet.”