Loyalist Troops Will Move Into Christian Heartland : Lebanon: Barracks captured from Gen. Aoun will be occupied as the president acts to extend his authority.

Lebanese President Elias Hrawi vowed Thursday to extend his authority into his nation’s embattled Christian heartland by dispatching troops from his half of the Lebanese army.

The mainly Muslim units are not expected to take part in the fighting that has set Christian against Christian since late January. Instead, they will take over barracks captured from the forces of renegade Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun, who controls the other half of the army.

The three barracks compounds, near Juniyah and Jubayl on the Mediterranean coast north of Beirut, were taken by the Lebanese Forces militia during the fighting.

On Wednesday, the militia’s leader, Samir Geagea, pledging his support of the Hrawi government and the Arab League accords under which Hrawi was elected, called on the president to send in the troops.

“We thank those who have called on the legitimate authority,” Hrawi said. “We will definitely respond to the appeal.”

The gesture, if carried out, is not expected to affect the standoff between Aoun and Geagea, whose forces are battling for military control of the Christian enclave. But it could open a path toward political talks with Aoun.

The stop-start fighting among the Christians was halted again Thursday for a brief period under the 16th cease-fire since the fighting began. Religious leaders had sought the cease-fire, saying that the internecine conflict was threatening Christendom’s “very existence in the Orient.” More than 800 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed.

However, soon after Hrawi’s announcement, Aoun’s troops blew up two Lebanese Forces ammunition trucks, touching off a major artillery duel that killed at least 10 people, Reuters news service reported.

Hrawi’s loyal battalions are led by Gen. Emile Lahoud, a Christian like the president, who has yet to set foot in Christian territory. His battalions reportedly have 20,000 fighters, equal to Aoun’s forces. However, not all would be sent to barracks in territory controlled by Geagea’s 10,000-member militia.

The dominant military force in Lebanon is the Syrian army, which has not taken part in the intra-Christian fighting.

Geagea’s recognition of the Hrawi government, reluctantly extended, acknowledges that the president is now widely accepted as Lebanon’s legitimate leader.

According to a Lebanese Forces official who visited Nicosia earlier this week, the militia leader has conceded that without a recognized government and a unified army able to protect both Christian and Muslim interests, Lebanon will be unable to recover from 15 years of civil war.

“So many people are leaving the country,” the official said, “that we will not be able to put it back together.”

Fuad Abi-Saleh, the influential leader of the Industrialists Assn., said the Christian conflict has driven 300,000 Lebanese--one of every three Christians--out of the country and caused $1 billion in damage. Eighty-five percent of the factories in Christian East Beirut have been shut down by damage from shelling or lack of power, he said.

Aoun, dismissed as army commander by Hrawi earlier this year, refuses to recognize the Hrawi government and opposes the Arab League accords because they contain no definite timetable for the withdrawal of Syrian forces from the country. He said he sees little advantage for Geagea in joining forces with the president.

“How will (Geagea) be part of an (Arab League) agreement which envisages the disbandment of militias?” Aoun remarked.