In the Crossfire

It was a rare sign of hope for the fratricidal quagmire that is Lebanon. Representatives of the country's political and religious factions are scheduled to gather this week for the first meeting of the conference on national reconciliation that was called for in the Sept. 26 cease-fire agreement. Even so, there were indications that Lebanon's guns would not be silent for long. The squabbling groups apparently had not yet agreed on where to hold the meeting. More ominous, cease-fire No. 179 was being violated with more and more impunity.

The deterioration caused concern not only among the Lebanese. On several occasions last week the U.S. Marine compound at Beirut International Airport came under rocket and small-arms fire. Sergeant Allen Soifert, 25, a member of the 1,200-strong U.S. contingent in the four-nation Multi-National Force, was patrolling the camp's perimeter in a Jeep when a sniper's bullet hit him in the chest. Soifert died of his wounds shortly thereafter. Half an hour earlier, another Marine had been injured by sniper fire as he drove through the same area. The new casualties brought the U.S. toll in Lebanon in the past two months to five dead, some 43 wounded. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.