Kuwaiti Hijackers Traced to Lebanon

The Arab hijackers who held a Kuwait Airways jet for 16 days and killed two of its passengers have been traced to the stronghold of pro-Iranian extremists in Lebanon, diplomatic sources said Saturday.

Arab and Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the hijackers were believed to have made their getaway in an Algerian air force plane via the Syrian capital of Damascus before dawn Wednesday.

The sources said the leader of the hijackers was believed to be Hassan Izzaldine, a Shia hard-liner known to have been involved in the 1985 TWA hijacking in which an American was killed.

“Various diplomatic security and counter-terrorist agencies are trying to keep track of the gang,” one diplomat said. “The men are believed to have gone underground with Hezbollah in a largely Shia part of West Beirut where their trail is easily lost.”

Hezbollah, or Party of God, is a pro-Iranian Shia radical movement that holds Western hostages in Lebanon, including American newsman Terry Anderson.