Syria Negotiates on Fate of 16 Beirut Hostages

The fate of 16 hostages--nine of them Americans--was being negotiated today by Syria and Iran as part of a plan to use Syrian troops to end 11 days of fighting among rival militias that has killed nearly 200 people, sources said.

Political sources said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Sheikholeslam and Mohsen Rafik Doust, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, held a flurry of talks in Damascus to discuss a planned Syrian deployment in Beirut’s southern suburbs to end the fighting.

“The negotiations focused on the issue of foreign hostages who are believed held in the suburbs and the future of Hezbollah (Party of God) and its military presence in the area once it has been put under a Syrian security plan,” a source said.

Syria, a supporter of Iran against Iraq in the 7-year-old Persian Gulf war, has said in the past it would like the hostages--believed held by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah--freed so Syria can move toward improving relations with Western countries that have repeatedly accused it of backing terrorism.

The United States indicated it would be willing to talk with the hostages’ captors.

Unaware of Movement

State Department spokesman Charles Redman, asked about reports that the hostages might have been moved from Beirut’s southern slums, said: “I don’t have anything to say about their whereabouts. We would only be concerned obviously if this kind of fighting were to endanger the hostages.”

He said Washington is pleased by a call from the spiritual guide of Hezbollah, Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, for negotiations about the hostages and said: “We will talk to anyone, to any group, to any government, about the well-being and release of the Americans still held hostage in Lebanon.”

In Beirut, the Iranian Embassy repeated its denial of a report by the Voice of Lebanon, a Christian radio station, that most of the hostages had been moved to the embassy grounds outside the battle zone.

Heavy Syrian Force

Syrian commanders deployed thousands of soldiers and hundreds of armored vehicles at the gateways to the labyrinthine slums beside the Beirut airport.

Men and machines began massing two days ago under Brig. Gen. Ali Deeb and Brig. Gen. Hisham Moalla, said to be one of Syria’s toughest generals.