LEBANON: STREET FIGHTING CONTINUES IN BEIRUT AS SYRIAN TANKS AND TROOPS MOVE INTO EASTERN LEBANON.

Record ID: 276795

  • Title: LEBANON: STREET FIGHTING CONTINUES IN BEIRUT AS SYRIAN TANKS AND TROOPS MOVE INTO EASTERN LEBANON.
  • Date: 2nd June 1976
  • Summary: 1. GV PAN City of east Beirut 0.08 2. SV Gunmen on hotel balcony taking cover 0.16 3. SV Gunmen seated on roadside drinking coffee (3 shots) 0.30 4. GV Gunmen patrolling streets 0.38 5. GV Gun mounted jeep patrolling street 0.51 6. GV Children clearing wreckage form road 1.04 7. SV Gunmen relaxing on roads side (2 shots) 1
  • Embargoed: 17th June 1976 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVABHAVOXFLT4KXQ9LLM4Z024IGO
  • Story Text: A state of tension prevailed throughout Beirut on Tuesday (1 June) following one of the bloodiest weekends of the civil war, during which 300 people died.

    Tuesday itself, was marked by sporadic outbursts of gunfire all over the city. At the end of the day 110 people were known to have been killed and another 35 bodies were found form earlier incidents.

    The left-wing-controlled Beirut radian quoted military observers as saying the right-wingers had used surface-to-surface missiles in their weekend bombardments. No district was spared form the shelling. People were hit by shell splinters all along the demarcation line in the Manara residential district.

    Late on tuesday, president-elect Mr. Elias Sarkis eventually called a halt to shelling. By nightfall, only random shots could be heard.

    In the meantime, in the east of the country, Syrian tanks and troops moved into Lebanon along the main damascus to Beirut highway, disarming left-wingers and their Palestinian allies. The Palestinian news agency put the armoured column strength at 3,000 to 4,000 men and 200 tanks.

    The left-wing leader, Mr. Kamal Jumblatt claimed there was United States support for what he described as "the invasion."
    A Reuter reporter who went to the eastern plain - the Eastern Valley - said he heard no shooting, but there were some reports of minor clashes and sniping in some areas.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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