16 Die, 75 Hurt as Beirut Areas Become Targets for Artillery

BEIRUT —  Militiamen battled across Beirut’s dividing line Monday, and gunners on both sides attacked residential areas with artillery fire. As many as 16 people were reported killed and as many as 75 were wounded.

Among those hurt in the exchange between Christian and Muslim gunners was Souha Chahin, this year’s Miss Lebanon.

The exchanges represented the fiercest combat in weeks in the Lebanese capital, where Syria has been trying to impose a peace plan to end a decade of intermittent civil strife.

The latest casualties raised the known toll in the fighting since early Saturday to at least 24 dead and 133 wounded--the highest losses since June, when 28 people were killed in an overnight battle.

Residential Sections Hit

Police said militiamen fired more than 3,500 shells in 24 hours into residential districts on both sides of the Green Line, the demarcation between between Christian East Beirut and the predominantly Muslim districts in the city’s western and southern sectors. Each side accused the other of shooting first, and no one appeared to know what set off the latest round of sectarian bloodletting.

The newest fighting came at a time of political maneuvering on both sides and and demands from Muslim leaders that Lebanon’s Christian president, Amin Gemayel, resign because of a failure to institute reforms that would give their people an equal share of power. Muslims formed an alliance late last month at a meeting in Syria, which acts as the real power broker in Lebanon.

Firing All Night

The battles with mortars, rockets and 106-millimeter recoilless artillery raged all night. At least 40 densely populated residential neighborhoods were hit on both sides of the three-mile dividing line.

Jihar Farr, a 23-year-old medical student, and Hassan Harakeh, a physician, were killed by a mortar round that exploded on the campus of the American University of Beirut, in the western sector.

Three people were seriously wounded, university officials said, including two women students. They identified one as Chahin, 20, who is studying public administration.