U.S. Troops Might Enter West Beirut Later This Week

The State Department said today that the present situation in west Beirut appeared favorable for U.S. troops to enter the Lebanese capital later this week as part of the multinational force to oversee the evacuation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

“The process of departure seems to be moving forward quite well,” Department spokesman John Hughes said. “The fourth ship has either left or is about to leave today, and despite one or two operational ‘glitches’ that took place over the weekend, that is going well.”

Glitches was the phrase used by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger on Sunday to describe the Israeli blockade of a Cyprus-bound vessel from departing the part of Beirut because the PLO had taken aboard jeeps and other military arms that Israel claimed was in contravention of the evacuation agreement.

Hughes said that a decision on the exact movement of U.S. troops into Beirut could be taken in the next 48 hours and that troops would move in “very rapidly” after such a decision is made. If fighting is taking place in other parts of Lebanon, as has been reported, Hughes said U.S. troops would not expand their role, which he noted “is a limited one in Beirut itself.”

President Reagan, in a letter to United Nations Secretary General Javier Peres de Cuellar, has pledged that U.S. troops in Beirut will work closely with the UN observers there. “The force will plan to work closely with the United Nations observers group stationed in the Beirut area,” Reagan said in a letter to the UN official made public today. “The agreement will support the objective of helping to restore the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon.”

Meanwhile, the Israel Embassy confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Defense Minister Ariel-Sharon will arrive here Friday to address the International Israel Bond Leadership Conference to be held at the Washington Hilton August 26-29.

So for no official visits with Reagan Administration officials have been scheduled for Sharon. But the State Department said that Secretary of State George Shultz would “be happy to see Mr. Sharon” if he does come to U.S. A report in Newsweek magazine last week said that Sharon had indicated that he wanted to come to the U.S. to confer with Administration officials about the situation in Lebanon, but that he had been refused an invitation. The State Department said last week the reports about a “frosty” reaction to the possibility of a Sharon visit here were “not accurate.”