An Arab League committee opened talks in Saudi Arabia today in an attempt to end seven years of fighting between Lebanon’s warring factions and restore authority to the central government in Beirut.
Before the talks began, Syria’s Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam said the links between Lebanon’s rightist Christian Phalange Party and Israel would have to be severed before further progress could be made on other issues, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Israel has pledged to support the Christians in their fight against the mainly Moslem left. Based on this pledge, made in 1978, Israel shot down two Syrian helicopters over Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley April 28, triggering the Israeli-Syrian missile crisis.
The committee, made up of the foreign ministers of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria and Lebanese president Elias Sarkis, was first formed in 1978, but reactivated in early June in an effort to help resolve the missile confrontation.
It was hoped that the initiative would reduce overall tension in Lebanon and pave the way for separate talks on the missiles being held by U.S. presidential envoy Philip Habib.
