Syria Accuses U.S. of Using Hostages as an Excuse to Mount Attack on Lebanon

Syria accused the United States on Wednesday of using the hostage crisis as a pretext for an attack on Lebanon, where a major U.S. naval force was being marshaled off the coast in the eastern Mediterranean.

In Washington, the White House urged “a little downgrading of the speculation” concerning U.S. intentions in the area. Another source called the deployment “precautionary.”

Fears of a U.S. attack or hostage rescue mission have mounted here over the last few days, although diplomatic sources predicted that any strike could result in heavy casualties among U.S. forces and death for American hostages.

Security sources said three kidnaped Americans and an Indian-born U.S. resident seized last month and threatened with death were being held in Beirut’s southern suburbs at the house of a relative of Mohammed Ali Hamadi, who was arrested Jan. 13 at Frankfurt airport as he tried to enter West Germany with explosives. The United States is trying to extradite him to face charges of murder and air piracy charges in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner to Beirut.

Waite Reported in Beirut

Militia sources said they believe Church of England envoy and hostage negotiator Terry Waite, missing for two weeks, also is being held in Beirut’s southern suburbs--a center of Muslim fundamentalism and rumored to be a possible U.S. military target.

In London, the Independent Television network reported Wednesday that Waite has been taken before a drumhead court of radical Shia Muslims and ordered “detained.”

Correspondent Brent Sadler said from Nicosia, Cyprus, that “a usually reliable Muslim source” reported that several Shia fundamentalists appeared in the unofficial proceeding as witnesses against Waite.

There was no corroboration and the Church of England said it has no confirmation that Waite, who dropped out of sight in Beirut on Jan. 20 to negotiate with kidnapers of foreign hostages, has become a captive himself.

Syrian Accusation

Eight Americans are among at least 25 foreigners being held hostage in Lebanon, and Syria’s state-run Damascus radio accused Washington of using the affair as an excuse to attack Lebanon.

“Washington has used the hostages affair as a pretext to launch an attack as part of its strategy for the region,” the radio said. “Washington wants to bring the Arab people to their knees. The Americans are beating the drums of war by sending their ships to the region.”

The little-known Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine has said it will “execute” its three American hostages and an Indian-born captive unless Israel agrees to exchange them for 400 jailed Arabs. Israel has rejected the demand, and a senior Israeli government official said Wednesday that the United States has not asked Israel to comply.

Warning From Iran

In Iran, Prime Minister Hussein Moussavi said the United States is looking for a way to recover from the Iran arms sales scandal and warned the United States against launching an attack either on Lebanon or in the Persian Gulf, where another U.S. naval battle force was ordered last week to move northward.

Moussavi told Tehran radio that the U.S. naval movements off Lebanon are a form of “psychological war against Muslims, against the people of Lebanon.”

He added: “The U.S. should know that any attack on Muslims anywhere on the globe will not remain unanswered by the world’s one billion Muslims. . . . America will definitely get nothing out of it.”