Shias’ Fires Seen as Hiding Hostage Traces

BEIRUT —  Pro-Iranian Shia Muslims burned rubber tires in their West Beirut headquarters today in what a Lebanese security official said apparently was an attempt to mask traces of foreign hostages.

The Hezbollah militiamen turned their headquarters over to Syrian troops today, two days after the Syrians moved into West Beirut to end street fighting among militias for control of the Muslim sector of the Lebanese capital.

A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Hezbollah militiamen took “every single piece of paper and furniture, not to mention weapons and ammunition” from their headquarters in the Basta district.

“They set fire to rubber tires in every room” of the three-story building, “blackening the walls, but not burning it,” the official said.

Soot Covered Traces of Hostages

“They obviously didn’t want to burn the building, only use the soot from the burning tires to cover any traces left by the foreign hostages, such as fingerprints or writing on walls. Any attempt to remove the soot would erase whatever traces there are,” the official said.

The Lebanese security official, reliable leftist sources and foreign diplomats say they believe at least some of the 26 foreigners missing and presumed kidnaped in Lebanon have been held at the Hezbollah headquarters in Basta.

However, Hezbollah has denied that it holds any foreign captive.

Elsewhere in West Beirut, Syrian troops shot and killed three gunmen today, the third day of the Syrian operation aimed at disarming feuding Druze and Shia Muslim militias, police reported.

Gunmen Failed to Stop

Police said the three gunmen failed to obey a Syrian patrol’s orders to stop in the seaside Raouche district, a longtime Druze stronghold.

“When the gunmen ran away, Syrian soldiers chased them, killed all three and resumed a search for armed men in the neighborhood,” a police spokesman said. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Witnesses said the men, all in their early 20s, were former members of Druze warlord Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party.

A police spokesman said Syrian soldiers arrested dozens of men in other sections of Beirut that were controlled by Druze and Shia militias.