Disturbing the Peace

A militiaman in civilian clothes exchanged heated words with a soldier at one of the checkpoints on the demilitarized "green line" that divides Beirut. The militiaman then jumped into his car and sped away. A trivial enough incident, but it touched off the worst fighting in Lebanon's capital since the Syrian-backed peace plan was adopted July 4. In the four hours of fighting that followed, the largely Christian Fifth Brigade in the east traded fire with the mostly Muslim Sixth Brigade in the west. Five people were wounded. The event revived fears that the army is dangerously divided along religious lines. Said a prominent Sunni Muslim politician: "If the army cannot control Beirut, what hope is there that it can control the rest of the country?"

Prime Minister Rashid Karami's hopes for extending the peace plan to other parts of Lebanon were further battered last week when two Israeli air force jets destroyed several buildings in the Bekaa Valley, killing or wounding at least 100. The structures were being used, an Israeli spokesman said, as a departure point for attacks by Palestinian guerrillas against Israeli soldiers.