Syrian Foreign Minister Abdul Halim Khaddam paid a suprise visit to the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli today, negotiating a cease-fire to end a week of fighting that has left 40 dead and 136 wounded.
Accompanied by Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas and military intelligence officials, Khaddam held a 4-hour meeting with local leaders and former Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami, a prominent political figure with close ties to both Damascus and Beirut.
After the meeting, held against a backdrop of occasional sniper and machine-gun fire, Khaddam told reporters a ceasefire had been arranged and a Tripoli ‘reconciliation’ committee formed to prevent a resurgence of fighting between pro and anti-Syrian militiamen.
In Beirut, U.S. Middle East envoy Morris Draper met President Amin Gemayel and Prime Minister Chefik Wazzan to brief them on U.S. plans to secure the withdrawal of Israeli, Syrian and Palestinian forces from Lebanon.
Wazzan told reporters Draper demonstrated Washington’s ‘serious determination’ to achieve a speedy withdrawal of the foreign troops.
But he urged the United States to implement its commitment to get the foreign troops out and said: ‘Today we need little talk and more serious action.’
The Lebanese Central News Agency said Gemayel telephoned Syrian President Hafez Assad to confer on the withdrawal question. It gave no details of the talks.
The Syrian delegation arrived in Tripoli after local leaders and government officials blamed the heavy Syrian military presence in the area for the fighting.
