World Notes LEBANON

Little good news comes out of Beirut nowadays, but last week the headlines offered some cheer. Saudi Hostages Bakr Damanhouri and Khalid Deeb were freed, evidently thanks to pressure by Syrian President Hafez Assad. Damanhouri, a cultural officer at the Saudi embassy in Beirut, had been held by an unidentified terrorist faction. Deeb, 23, the son of a security official in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, had been kidnaped in late January, apparently by the partisans of Islamic Jihad. The pair's good fortune raised hopes that the Syrians might secure the release of at least some of the 23 other foreigners, including eight Americans, who are being held in Lebanon.

Assad's influence in that troubled land has grown greatly since last month, when he dispatched 7,500 troops into West Beirut to restore order. Indeed, pressure to keep the hostages alive seems to be coming from all sides. The Revolutionary Justice Organization, which is composed of Shi'ite Muslim extremists, postponed plans last week to execute French Television Engineer Jean-Louis Normandin. The group had been warned not to kill him by both Syria and Shi'ite Muslim Cleric Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the spiritual leader of the pro-Iranian Hizballah (Party of God). Said Fadlallah: "You cannot confront the policy of the French President by executing a kidnap victim."