The last Israeli soldiers withdrew from Beirut international airport at noon today and the first U.S. marines to be stationed there arrived by helicopter minutes later.
The swift change-over indicated that Israel had suddenly, at the last minute, backed away from its earlier insistence that at least some Israeli troops remain at the airport, that its personnel man the control towers and that Israeli planes have free use of the runway. Only yesterday, Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan said Israeli forces would have to remain at Beirut airport as long as Israeli troops were stationed in central and eastern Lebanon.
Eitan was said to have made that point strongly at a meeting yesterday morning with U.S. special Ambas sador Morris Draper. The meeting reportedly ended in a deadlock. A later meeting was held in Tel Aviv between Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis on the same subject. The American envoy prevailed and the Israelis agreed reluctantly to pull out of both west and east Beirut.
The only Israelis remaining in the Beirut area will be a small party at Baabde village, site of the President’s official residence. It will consist of a Foreign Ministry representative, a military spokesman and an office for the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s radio and television correspondents.
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