Lebanon Clever Are the Peacekeepers

By Dean Fischer/Damascus

The crackle of machine-gun fire and the crump of mortar shells reverberated in the narrow alleyways of Beirut's southern suburbs. Figures in camouflage fatigues crouched behind the crumbling concrete-block walls of abandoned apartment buildings, clutching Kalashnikovs and scanning the area ahead for signs of movement before advancing. Red headbands identified the men as members of Hizballah, the disciplined and fanatical Shi'ite militia supported by Iran. After three weeks of combat, Hizballah's militants, led by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, had seized control of virtually the entire area of Beirut's southern suburbs from the Syrian-backed Amal militia. Nearly 300 people were killed in the clashes and some 1,000 wounded.

While Hizballah emerged as the clear winner on the ground, a larger victory may fall to Syrian President Hafez Assad. In late-night talks at the presidential villa near the Syrian seaside resort of Latakia last week, Assad and a four-member Hizballah delegation reached agreement on a cease-fire in the Beirut suburbs, followed 24 hours later by the entry into the area of a peacekeeping contingent of Syrian troops. On Friday morning, 900 Syrian infantrymen, armed with machine guns and grenade launchers and accompanied by Lebanese police, moved into a buffer zone between the warring militias. Under Syrian authority, Hizballah and Amal will be permitted to maintain political and information offices in the area, but their fighters will be disarmed.

By extending Syria's security role beyond the western part of Beirut, Assad reinforced his position as Lebanon's leading power broker. At the same time, he managed to preserve a relatively cordial relationship with Iran, which had given its blessing to Hizballah's negotiators. Iran's cooperation may have been motivated in part by the battlefield losses it has suffered recently in the eight-year-old gulf war with Iraq. Last week Iraqi troops recaptured Iranian-occupied territory east of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, beyond the battered southern port city of Basra.

Iranian acceptance of the Syrian army's entry into the Beirut suburbs was thus perhaps a gesture of gratitude for the support Assad has given Iran throughout the conflict in the gulf. Iran could also claim that the peaceful solution prevented certain Hizballah defeat in Beirut had Syria used force, as it threatened to several times.

Some diplomats suggested that the Syrians' expanded security role in Beirut could improve prospects for the release of foreign hostages, including nine Americans, believed held by pro-Iranian militants in the Shi'ite neighborhoods. In his desire to regain respectability following Western charges of Syrian involvement in international terrorism, Assad would like to reap credit for seeing the hostages freed. A Western diplomat in Damascus described the security plan for the suburbs as "a move in the right direction."

Syria has also been cooperating with the U.S. during the past five months in devising an outline for constitutional reform in Lebanon. Washington and Damascus agree on basic principles: a unified Lebanon with broad governmental authority, the disbanding of the various Christian and Muslim militias and the transfer of some of the extensive constitutional powers of the President, traditionally a Maronite Christian, to Muslim members of the government. Animosities between minority Christians and majority Muslims, as well as between rival factions within each community, are formidable obstacles to reform though. Last week's settlement between Syria and Hizballah was a step forward, but the road to peace in Lebanon remains mined with distrust.