Hezbollah Hints at New Attacks on U.S. Targets

BEIRUT —  The pro-Iranian group Hezbollah on Saturday accused the United States, France and Pope John Paul II of favoring Lebanese Christians over Muslims and hinted that new attacks may be mounted on U.S. targets.

Druze warlord Walid Jumblatt, Syria’s main Lebanese ally, ordered a general mobilization in his 200,000-member Druze community to prepare for a major battle against the Christians, Muslim sources said. The Druze are an offshoot sect of Islam.

Police said two people were killed and nine were wounded in clashes between Syrian troops and Christian forces along Beirut’s Christian-Muslim dividing line and three other fronts in the central Lebanese mountains and in the north.

Death Toll Now at 781

The new casualties raised the overall toll to 781 killed and 2,118 wounded since fighting broke out March 8 between Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun’s mainly Christian army units and Syrian troops backed by Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party.

Sporadic exchanges have broken a general lull prevailing since the U.N. Security Council appealed Tuesday for a cease-fire.

In its statement published by Beirut newspapers, Hezbollah, or Party of God, accused France, the United States and the Pope of favoring Lebanese Christians in the 14-year-old civil war with Muslims.

“The French naval buildup in the Mediterranean, the Pope’s fanatic and biased stands, and America’s moves at the (U.N.) Security Council are part of the arrogant campaign aimed at taming the Muslims,” it said.

“This campaign will only lead to failure because the era of the Crusaders’ invasion is gone following the spread of the spirit of martyrdom that forced the (U.S.) Marines and the French to retreat in 1983,” it said.

That was a reference to the twin suicide truck bomb attacks on Oct. 23, 1983, against the U.S. Marine base and the headquarters of French paratroopers in Beirut. The bombings killed 241 American servicemen and 58 French soldiers and led to withdrawal of an international peace force.

Hezbollah is believed to be an umbrella group for terrorists holding 14 Western hostages, including eight Americans, in Lebanon.

French Warships Dispatched

France dispatched the aircraft carrier Foch, the destroyer Cassard, and the destroyer Duquesne to the Mediterranean in recent days while its envoy, Alain Decaux, discussed the crisis with Lebanese officials.

Aoun, who serves as army commander and leader of a Christian Cabinet, was quoted Saturday as saying that he would like to see French forces get involved.

“I would like a French military intervention, but I don’t want to compromise France with a Lebanese request. Up until now, we have exhausted much of our human and material resources, and we need help to continue the resistance,” Aoun was quoted in an interview in the Paris weekly Journal du Dimanche.

French officials say the movement of their forces in the Mediterranean was designed to help evacuate the estimated 7,000 French citizens if necessary. They say Paris has no intention of intervening militarily.