The World - News from May 12, 1988
Shia Muslim militias fought with artillery and tanks in their battle for supremacy in south Beirut. Police said 33 people were killed and 160 were wounded, bringing the death toll in six days of fighting to at least 187 people killed and more than 532 wounded. The third truce in two days was called as evening fell, and the Iranian Embassy said Presidents Hafez Assad of Syria and Ali Khamenei of Iran were forming a four-man committee to enforce a “final cease-fire.” The militias--the Syrian-backed Amal and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah (Party of God)--are fighting for control of a 16-square-mile enclave next to the Beirut airport. Most of the 18 foreign hostages, including nine Americans, are believed held in the area.
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