Syria Plans Quick Pullout From South Beirut : Troop Turnaround Diminishes Hopes for Freeing Hostages

The government here said Saturday that it plans to withdraw its troops from the southern suburbs of Beirut in the next few days, apparently further diminishing the chances of an imminent release for the Western hostages believed to be held there.

Syrian Information Minister Mohammed Salman told a news conference that Syria continues to “exert all of its efforts” toward freeing the 18 foreign hostages, including nine Americans, seized by Muslim extremists in Lebanon. But he said the release “cannot be defined by time.”

Several hundred Syrian troops began a deployment in the southern suburbs Friday as part of a security plan worked out with Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian Party of God, to end more than two weeks of bloodshed in the area.

Pullback to 8 Checkpoints

Salman said the Syrian troops will be withdrawn to eight checkpoints along the perimeter of the suburbs, where he said they will be “always on alert to intervene when required.”

He said that supervision of a truce between elements of Hezbollah and of Amal, a more moderate Shia Muslim militia organization, will be turned over to Lebanese security forces, presumably the police and the predominantly Muslim 6th Brigade of the Lebanese army, neither of which has proved effective in the past in controlling militia violence.

But he said the Syrians will insist that militia fighters not carry weapons in the suburbs and that militia offices will be closed under the terms of the security accord.

Green Line an Exception

An exception will be provided in the proximity of the so-called Green Line that divides Muslim West Beirut from the city’s mostly Christian eastern sector and where no limits would be placed on carrying arms.

The recent fighting in the suburbs has seen Hezbollah forces substantially defeat the rival, pro-Syrian Amal militia in the crowded, 14-square mile suburbs. Before the Syrian intervention, Hezbollah had driven Amal out of all but one of its strongholds.

Salman emphasized that Syria will continue to avoid a confrontation with Hezbollah as long as the extremist group remains in a state of war with Israel in the south.

The minister said the Syrians will allow Lebanese to bear arms against the Israelis because there is no constituted Lebanese army in the south of the country to defend against Israeli incursions.

“We must strengthen any power which is fighting Israel,” Salman said.

Nonetheless, the peace agreement with Hezbollah, which was agreed upon by the militia and Syrian President Hafez Assad on Wednesday, appeared to be less comprehensive than the one adopted for West Beirut last year in which more than 7,000 Syrian soldiers and intelligence officers deployed on the streets to maintain order.

The minister also appealed to the Lebanese to agree to a comprehensive political solution to the civil war in their country, now in its 14th year.

He said that in the absence of an overall political settlement among the Lebanese, elections for a new president, scheduled for September, could not be held--the first time Syria has suggested that it would freeze the Lebanese political crisis until a resolution is achieved.

The Syrian deployment in the suburbs had given rise to new hopes, encouraged by the Syrians, that the extremists holding the hostages might be forced to surrender them because of the proximity of Syrian troops.

Stresses Negotiation Need

But Salman continued to emphasize Saturday that the captives could only be released through political negotiations between the kidnapers and the countries of the foreign victims.

The end of the fighting, he said, provides hope because “this will keep the hostages alive.”

Wire services reported that gunmen from the rival militias could be seen Saturday evacuating their positions and retreating to the demarcation line dividing Beirut into the Muslim west and Christian east sectors.

Normal life was being gradually restored to the slums, as scores of families who had fled during the fierce fighting returned to inspect the damage to their homes and businesses.

Cleaning Up Rubble

Shop owners cleaned up rubble, glass shards and twisted metal from their bullet-pocked businesses. Residents were seen throwing damaged and burned furniture in garbage piles.

“I returned today to my house and found it was hit by seven rockets and half burnt,” said Ahmad, 45, a father of six children. “I will repair it once I have made sure peace is restored for good.”

Meanwhile, wire services reported that a Norwegian relief group evacuated its foreign personnel from southern Lebanon “for security reasons” Saturday, one week after a Belgian volunteer disappeared.

“We cannot continue sending medical volunteers if they disappear like Dr. Jan Cools,” the Norway group said in a statement.

The relief group did not say how many people were involved in the evacuation.

Cools, 32, has worked with the Norwegian group for three months. He vanished May 21 after leaving the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Tyre.

In another development, wire services reported that Israeli troops launched a major search in their south Lebanon “security zone” Saturday after a pro-Israeli militiaman was killed in a clash with guerrillas.

Security sources said the militiamen died when a South Lebanon Army patrol exchanged machine-gun and rocket fire with several guerrillas near the village of Tal al Nahas, about 600 yards from the Israeli border.

About 60 Israeli soldiers, backed by two helicopter gunships, were sent in to hunt for the guerrillas.