Major Saad Haddad, commander of the Christian militia in south Lebanon, has denied that any agreement has been reached to permit a 700-man contingent of the Lebanese army to pass through the Christian enclaves in the south to an assigned position at Tibnin, 25 miles from Kaukaba. The battalion has been mired in Kaukaba for a week because of opposition by the Christian militia.
Haddad said an agreement was reached on a total cease-fire between the militia and the Lebanese battalion so that the Moslem soldiers in the battalion would be able to observe the Islamic Ramadan feast unhampered. He stressed that the battalion will not be allowed to move from its present site at Koukaba through the Christian enclaves even if Israel, under United States pressure, advised them to do so. He hinted that Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who conferred with Premier Menachem Begin before flying to Alexandria for talks with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, may have exerted pressure on Israel to advise the Christians to change their position.
But it was reported last night that a new plan had been devised under which the battalion will take up positions farther east in south Lebanon and will be transported by helicopter to Tibnin.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
