Many Christians Enthusiastic : French Fleet Buildup Stirs Fears, Hopes in Lebanon

Perhaps more than any recent issue, the buildup of a French fleet in the eastern Mediterranean, to be augmented today with the scheduled arrival of the aircraft carrier Foch, is stirring speculation among the Lebanese.

In the 310-square-mile Christian sector, residents view Paris’ action with enthusiasm, and that feeling is being expressed regularly on television and two radio stations controlled by Maronite Christians. And a song written to praise France has been getting more and more radio time. The song is sung in French, which many residents of Beirut speak better than Arabic.

Indeed, the belief that France is the only nation that will come to Lebanon’s aid is widely held among many Christians here.

“The U.S. is too worried about its hostages to help us,” one young woman in West Beirut said. “Frankly, everybody has his own interests in this country. The French say they love Lebanon. Maybe they want to rule us again.”

Already, three French vessels, including the frigate Duquesne, have arrived off Lebanon; five more have been dispatched.

France governed Lebanon under a League of Nations mandate from 1919 until 1943. French officials have said the warships are being deployed only to provide humanitarian aid and to evacuate 7,000 French nationals if the current fighting, begun five months ago, intensifies between Christian-led forces and those of Syria and its Lebanese Muslim allies.

But these reassurances have fallen on deaf ears in many places.

“Even if the French ships are carrying humanitarian aid, there might be guns underneath,” one Christian here cautioned.

No Pleasure Boat

And a recent editorial in a West Beirut newspaper declared bluntly: “There’s a lot of talk about evacuation and humanitarian aid--but after all, the French aren’t sending a pleasure boat.”

One patron at the Backstreet, a West Beirut bar, said he is so certain of a military clash between France and Syria that he has concocted a possible scenario for the battle.

“If the Syrians or their Lebanese allies fire even one shot at the French boats, French bombers will come and wipe them out,” he told other patrons of the bar.

West Beirutis in particular fear that any French-Syrian fight will be a disaster.

“We suffered five months of military solutions, and where has it gotten us?” one West Beirut resident sighed.

Elsewhere, a Muslim doctor in West Beirut expressed anger over the French naval deployment and other moves by Paris as well.

“Remember when the French ships came last spring to evacuate 75 wounded people (at the start of the artillery war)?” he said. “The money spent on that publicity stunt could have paid the medical bills for 2,000 injured people right here in Lebanon.”

After months of shelling, loss of life and property, severe electricity cuts and water shortages, some Lebanese say they have reached the end of their rope.

“If anyone can help us, let them try,” one woman pleaded.