New Year Revelry Also Splits Beirut : Lebanon: Pro-Iranian Hezbollah tries to keep it quiet but night spots are hot in Syrian, Christian areas.

With only hours to go before Lebanon left the tragic 1980s and headed for a new decade, Beirutis on both sides of the Green Line rushed about gathering the ingredients for Ras-issini, Arabic for New Year’s. Shops opened Sunday, allowing residents to buy everything from sequin gowns to Seagram’s gin and smoked salmon.

Since the deployment of Syrian troops in Muslim West Beirut in February, 1987, the influence of Hezbollah--the fundamentalist, pro-Iranian “Party of God”--over West Beirut night life and the beverages usually associated with it has been restricted to the areas it controls in Beirut’s predominantly Shiite Muslim southern suburbs.

El Mustapha supermarket, located in one of those suburbs, was well-stocked with party hats, noisemakers and balloons. There were even a few artificial Christmas trees left and a handful of Christmas cards as well. The supermarket also sells non-alcoholic beer which, like the cards, comes from Iran.

But early Sunday morning, members of Hezbollah put a damper on partying. Touring areas under its control with loudspeakers, it warned residents that after 9 p.m. New Year’s Eve, no one would be allowed into the area for the rest of the night. And those leaving the area could not return before 7 a.m. Monday. One resident reckoned that this move was an attempt to keep people from bringing in alcoholic beverages from other areas.

Another resident admitted that he already had his whiskey hidden away but that he would celebrate at home watching television. Even that was difficult as electricity rationing left most of the city dark.

Using a home generator could have been the answer, but “Hezbollah Ordinance II” ordered that no generator noise would be allowed after 10 p.m. The noise, the militiamen said, would interfere with the call to evening prayers.

Even battery-run boom boxes were included in the noise ordinance. Hezbollah warned that loud music would not be tolerated.

Ironically, just minutes away from the southern suburbs are two of West Beirut’s hottest night spots--Summerland and the Coral Beach night club. Dinner, dancing and drinks cost a couple nearly $200 there. Hezbollah holds no sway in that area because the Syrian headquarters are just down the street.

The Syrian presence in West Beirut has made merrymaking safe and profitable for merchants who once took a dangerous risk to openly sell alcohol. On the other hand, staying on good terms with the Syrians requires diplomacy and occasional seasonal largess. It is, in other words, the merchants duty to provide free shopping from time to time to Syrian soldiers.

For a Good Time . . .

“If you want to have a good time tonight (New Year’s Eve),” said a traveler to his American seatmate as they landed at Beirut airport, “go to East Beirut. That’s were the action is.”

Christian East Beirut’s posh restaurants such as Don Carlos offered a gala dinner, free-flowing drinks, party hats and an orchestra to set the mood, all for $130 a couple.

Although Lebanon has the reputation of being war-torn and poor, New Year’s Eve is no time to search for evidence to prove it on either side of the Green Line, which separates mainly Muslim West Beirut from Christian-dominated East Beirut. Jimmy’s Disco in West Beirut had entertainment as well as dinner and drinks for $300 a couple. “Down and Out in Beirut” wouldn’t make such a bad movie title, when one comes to think about it.

In East Beirut, the striking of the clock at midnight gave way to an odd scene. Lebanese Forces militiamen, standing on apartment balconies and back-lit by Christmas trees, fired thousands of tracer bullets from their M-16s.

In the western sector, the Syrians followed suit, and militias on the Green Line joined the fun as their streams of tracers crisscrossed a sky already lit up by flashes of lightning.

On the official government level, New Year’s activities began and ended with Lebanon’s new president giving a five-minute, year-end message, promising the Lebanese “a strong and capable state” in 1990. Using the slogan “Reconciliation is the path to reforms,” President Elias Hrawi aimed his comments at Lebanon’s rebellious army commander, Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun, who has refused to vacate Baabda Palace, the Lebanese White House.

Aoun does not recognize Hrawi as president, accusing him of being a Syrian stooge. Aoun’s demand for a complete Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon is what was behind the six months of intense fighting that claimed more than 900 lives between March and September.

No matter how noisy it was New Year’s Eve, it wasn’t anything like the hours of crashing shells and rocket exchanges that characterized “night life” in Beirut last spring and summer.

Thousands of Aoun’s supporters held a bash outside Baabda Palace on Sunday night, bringing their own food and drink. Dubbed the most popular (and cheapest) hangout in East Beirut, the palace grounds swarmed with merrymakers in spite of rain.