BEIRUT, Tuesday.
ARTILLERY battles raged in Beirut today after Moslem forces laid siege
to Lebanon's Christian enclave, cutting off fuel and food to their
sectarian foes.
In south Lebanon, where Israeli troops confront Moslem and Palestinian
guerrillas, three Irish members of the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL were
killed when their vehicle ran over a landmine.
An Irish officer said the three were killed near the village of
Brashiet on the edge of Israel's self-declared security zone, taking to
163 the total number of UN servicemen killed in Lebanon.
The officer said the attack was aimed at UN troops and UN Secretary
General Javier Perez de Cuellar ordered a full investigation. An Israeli
Government official said the mine was probably intended for members of
the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia.
The Irish soldiers were nearing the end of their tour of duty and
would have left Lebanon by May. Their deaths bring to 30 the number of
Irish troops killed since the UN force moved into Lebanon in 1978.
Army headquarters in Dublin named the dead soldiers as: Corporal
Fintan Hennigan, 28, unmarried, from Ballinrobe, County Mayo; Private
Thomas Walsh, 30, married from Tubbercurry, County Sligo; and
26-year-old Private Manix Armstrong, a married man from Sligo. All were
members of the Irish Army's 64th Infantry Battallion.
Security sources in Beirut said at least eight people were killed in
the artillery barrage around the city, the latest round in two weeks of
intermittent fighting between Moslems and Chris- tians.
They said Moslem forces had closed the crossings between west Beirut
and the Christian east, as well as all other road links to Christian
territory.
The enclave, which includes the hills and coastal district north of
Beirut, was left with the port of Jounieh as its only link to the
outside world.
The port is also within range of Moslem artillery and has been shelled
during the fighting sparked by rivalry between the Christian Government
of Michel Aoun and pro-Syrian Moslem groups.
Aoun, in a French radio interview today, described Syria as a
terrorist state holding four million Lebanese hostage.
Damascus, which has 25,000 troops in Lebanon, supports the
administration of Sunni Moslem Selim Hoss, who refuses to recognise
Aoun's Government.
Aoun's interview was broadcast ahead of the arrival in Paris of Syrian
Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara, who held three hours of talks with
French officials on the crisis in Lebanon.
Referring to a European Community call for all non-Lebanese troops to
withdraw from Lebanon, Shara said Syrian forces could not be regarded as
foreign.
Christian leaders accused Syria of ordering the blockade of their
territory. Political sources said the siege was in retaliation for a
blockade imposed by Aoun earlier this month on illegal militia-run
ports.
The security sources said at least five people were killed in west
Beirut by the shelling while direct hits on the Chistians' coastal
highway caused a road accident in which three people died.--Reuter.
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