World Notes Lebanon

The Israeli army last week continued its slow withdrawal from southern Lebanon, pulling back from the area around the town of Nabatiyah as Lebanese cheered their departure. Another milestone was reached: the tenth anniversary of Lebanon's seemingly endless civil war, which has cost more than 100,000 lives.

On an explosive day in April 1975, Christian militiamen ambushed a Palestinian bus in East Beirut, killing 37 passengers. That action is generally recognized as the incident that sparked the civil war. The present government of "national unity," set up last year under Syrian aegis, is virtually powerless, and the country continues to be beset by sectarian fighting, most seriously last week around the southern port city of Sidon. There, for the third week in a row, Christian militiamen battled Muslim units of the Lebanese Army and Muslim irregulars.

Among the weary Lebanese, there are few who see much hope. "If you had told / me ten years ago that the war would go on for a decade, I wouldn't have believed it," says a Christian publisher in East Beirut. "Tell me now that it will continue for another ten years, and I will merely shrug. We're numb."