Lebanese Government urges US to deploy contingent in larger area to pressure IDF to withdraw from entire Beirut area (IDF tanks still stationed around presidential palace...
Israeli and Phalangist forces link in Beirut, encircling PLO forces inside city; Israeli tanks push NE of capital, move on Syrian positions; IDF seizes control of Baabda;...
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Military Action:
Lebanese Government urges US to deploy contingent in larger area to pressure IDF to withdraw from entire Beirut area (IDF tanks still stationed around presidential palace at Baabda); Marines continue to bring equipment ashore (currently assigned to patrol from southern tip of airport to Burj al-Barajneh); French troops take over East Beirut positions from Phalange for first time; IDF unit attacked near Aley (no casualties).
Casualties:
Site of massacre bulldozed as Lebanese Government flattens camp for "health and psychological reasons"; Lebanese Army searches door-to-door for illegal residents (Syrians are deported, Turks jailed, 1500 Palestinians taken for interrogation); Saeb Salam asks Gemayel to halt "kidnappings".
Political Responses:
Israel/ Occupied Territories: Israeli Chief Justice Kahan appoints judicial Commission of inquiry into Beirut massacre; Begin may press for elections next spring after Commission releases findings.
Palestinians/ Lebanese: Saeb Salam rejects Gemayel request for him to return as Prime Minister for 5th time; suspect in Gemayel assassination arrested by Phalange security agents (3 men also arrested for murder two years ago of Bashir Gemayel's 18-month-old daughter); Habib meets Gemayel for 90 minutes, on route from Egypt to Syria; DFLP's Hawatmeh says DFLP will propose resolution on mutual recognition between Israel and PLO at next Palestine National Council meeting.
US and Other Countries: Reagan calls death of Marine "tragic" but says US commitment to peacekeeping force remains unchanged; Gromyko, at UN, condemns Reagan peace plan.
UN: UN declines to set up independent inquiry on massacre because Lebanese want inquiry to be carried on outside Lebanon, but PLO thinks inquiry should be held in Lebanon.
Military Action:
Several incidents shake cease-fire; small arms fire reported in Beirut area.
Casualties:
Beirut food supplies sufficient but prohibitively expensive for poorer Lebanese and Palestinian refugees; much of fresh produce is from Israel, resold to Lebanese middlemen; Phalangists at checkpoints bribed to let goods through; some vegetable prices have increased 300-400 percent; Baalbek refugee center in eastern Lebanon out of food; 100,000 Lebanese and Palestinians fled to Baalbek area to escape fighting elsewhere in Lebanon; relief supplies being sent by ICRC and other groups from Damascus; polio, measles, and scabies reported in region; IDF reportedly lifts blockade somewhat; ICRC officials scheduled to begin interviewing thousands of detainees at Israel's new Anzal prison; every third house in Rashidiyeh lies in ruins, as journalists allowed in for first time since invasion; 4 PLO members killed near Lake Karoun; 1 IDF soldier wounded near airport.
Political Responses:
Israel/ Occupied Territories: David Kimche visits Habib in Beirut for briefing; Begin, at large pro-government rally in Tel Aviv, suggests possible Israeli confederation with Jordan, offers to meet with Hussein after peace treaty with Lebanon signed; Sharon offers temporary asylum to PLO guerrillas who renounce the PLO; Uri Avnery, in US, urges Reagan administration to recognize the PLO.
Palestinians/ Lebanese: Sarkis wants "global and final" resolution to Palestinian issue in Lebanon, opposes temporary regroupment; Bashir Gemayel and Walid Jumblatt meet at presidential palace in effort to revive National Salvation Council, seen by some as part of Gemayel's effort to win Lebanese presidential election; Gemayel meets with Salam and Berri; Gemayel denouces PLO delay in leaving.
Arab Governments: Jumblatt visits Damascus to persuade Syrians to accept PLO evacuees.
US and Other Countries: Meeting of 69 Non- Aligned States' foreign ministers, called at Arafat's request, convenes in Cyprus, urges UN sanctions against Israel, forms peace committee to help resolve crisis.
Military Action:
Israeli and Phalangist forces link in Beirut, encircling PLO forces inside city; Israeli tanks push NE of capital, move on Syrian positions; IDF seizes control of Baabda; Beirut radio says IDF, with Phalangist support, moves to coast north of Beirut; Israeli navy closes Beirut port; Sharon visits Beirut for meetings with Phalangist leaders.
PLO leaders tour camps, hospitals, troop positions in Beirut; fighting flares between IDF and Syrians near highway; Phalangist officers, dressed in Israeli uniforms, are seen giving directions to Israeli tanks.
Casualties:
Reports from Tyre indicate no buildings untouched by shrapnel (Israeli military governor estimates only 30 percent of buildings destroyed); Palestinian Red Crescent Hospital in Sidon reports many patients dismem-bered in fighting (only one doctor remains to tend 58 patients after Israelis arrest Canadian, Norwegian, Palestinian doctors); all Sidon men aged 17-55, required to report to IDF for permits, many are arrested after going to IDF headquarters; 90 busloads of Palestinians reportedly taken away for questioning; Lebanese police report 9,583 killed, 16,608 wounded since Israeli air raids began 11 days ago (dead in Beirut estimated at 750); Israel now controls about half of Lebanon; Nabatiyeh reported "sanitized" by IDF before foreign correspondents allowed in; Israelis report 170 Israelis killed, 700 wounded, 10 captured, and 6,000 Palestinian guerrillas and 60 Syrians held; UK embassy advises nationals to leave.
Political Responses:
Israel/Occupied Territories: Israeli Defense Minister Sharon says IDF has "no intention" of taking Beirut; General Eitan says IDF mission is to smash PLO's political and military nerve center; Begin leaves for the US; Israeli agencies plan relief for Lebanon.
Palestinians/ Lebanese: PLO vows to stand and fight; Lebanese President Sarkis, meeting with 10 Cabinet ministers at Presidential Palace (Israeli tanks 200 metres away), calls for setting up a Council of National Salvation; 3 appointees to Council, however, refuse to attend; Habib delivers Israeli withdrawal terms to Sarkis, and US Ambassador Dillon sends limousine to fetch Walid Jumblatt; Jumblatt demands wider representation of Lebanese leftists on Council-other members are Gemayel (Maronite Phalangist), Berri (Shiite Amal), Maalouf (Catholic), Foreign Minister Butros (Greek Orthodox), Prime Minister Wazzan (Sunni), and Presi-dent Sarkis (Maronite); Christians in Baabda reportedly welcome Israelis, guide them; Bashir Gemayel reportedly pushed as future president of Lebanon (election of new Lebanese president by Parliament scheduled for late August); Haddad tours southern Lebanon.
Arab Governments: Egypt relays Palestinian request for cease-fire in Beirut area to Israel; Mubarak meets with Saudi King Fahd (first contact since 1973 peace treaty signed).