President Carter urged an end to the fighting between the Syrian “peace-keeping” force and the Lebanese Christian militia while the State Department reported today on U.S. efforts with the governments of Syria and Israel and Lebanese politicians to bring peace to that wartorn country.
Referring to reports that Israeli warplanes have overflown Lebanon as a gesture of support for the beleaguered Christians in the Beirut area, the State Department suggested that it did not approve such action but did not explicitly criticize it. It also indicated a negative view of the Syrian action by declining firmly to reiterate its long held position that Syria is “keeping the peace in Lebanon.”
“The fighting in Beirut is in no one’s interest.” President Carter said in a statement issued today. “I therefore join with those world leaders calling for an immediate end to the fighting and urge all parties with influence over the situation to spare no effort to set Lebanon once more on the road to peace and progress.”
Carter’s statement came after Lebanese Americans stoned the Syrian Embassy here yesterday in an incident that brought the arrest of 13 of them and forced the Syrian Ambassador to five his chancery. An advertisement by the “American Lebanese League” in the Washington Post and other newspapers today called on Carter to intervene against “the savage killing of the innocent and unarmed Lebanese civilian population by the Syrian army.” The League described itself as “a nationwide movement representing 75 organizations in 40 states.”
VIEW OF ISRAELI INTERVENTION
At the State Department, chief spokesman Hodding Carter said “I won’t deal with that suggestion” when asked if the U.S. would object to Israeli intervention in Lebanon. Questioned about the reported Israeli overflights, he said “We are urging on all parties to use maximum restraint to end the fighting” but he explicitly ruled out any contact with the PLO. Asked about the possibility of Israeli intervention, he said “the concern of the Israeli government is well known.”
He would not say, in response to a question, whether the Israeli overflights were “good or bad,” but stressed that “In urging maximum restraint by all parties we mean precisely that.” He added that “anything that will have the potential of expanding the conflict is something we think would not be useful.”
Hodding Carter was asked if Israel could use American military equipment in Lebanon. He replied that in such an event, the type of weapons used would have to be examined “at the time of their use.” Asked if the U.S. still adheres to the view that Syria is performing a peace-keeping role in Lebanon, the State Department spokesman said: “We are not going to try to define roles or responsibilities at this point” beyond asking for maximum restraint.”
Pressed as to Syria’s peace-keeping role. Carter observed. “That is the function it has been performing as we understand it. I simply am not able to address that question in the particular instances that are going on right now.”
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