Militia Chief Embarrassing but Valuable Ally

By Michael Precker

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Transcribed from the clipping

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Maj. Saad Haddad’s Christian militiamen in southern Lebanon are embarrassing allies for the Israeli government. But it continues to support them because they are a deterrent to Palestinian attacks on northern Israel. U.N. peacekeeping troops are locked in a deadly confrontation with Haddad’s forces for control of three Lebanese villages.

One Irish soldier died last week after being shot in the eye, and two other Irish troops were murdered. Haddad maintains the Irish troops are sympathetic to Palestinian guerrillas and allow them to operate in the U.N. zone. The U.N. denies the charge.

The 6,000 U.N. troops moved into the volatile strategic region above Israel’s northern border two years ago to replace Israeli forces that occupied southern Lebanon to drive out Palestinian guerrillas who returned there after the Lebanese civil war. A News Analysis Though the U.N.

Security Council ordered the force to take control of all Lebanese territory south of the Litani River, the withdrawing Israelis turned over a narrow border strip to Haddad, a former Lebanese army officer who shared the Israeli aim of keeping Palestinian guerrillas out of the area and proclaimed his territory “Free Lebanon” in defiance of the Lebanese government in Beirut.

Israel provides Haddad with weapons and supplies and pays his soldiers. Hundreds of Lebanese living in his enclave work in Israel. The major appears regularly in the northern Israeli town of Metulla for news conferences arranged by Israeli liaison officers.

The close cooperation has provoked frequent denunciations from Arab states who accuse Israel of violating Lebanese sovereignty, and appeals from Western countries and the United Nations to Israel to stop Haddad from clashing with the U.N. forces.

Israeli officials admit their government is embarrassed by Haddad, but they give no indication that it might reduces its support of him. “Haddad is not an Israeli puppet,” said one official who asked that his name not be used. “He’s the head of a people in great danger as a result of terrorist intentions to take over all of south Lebanon.

It’s in our political and moral interests to save the lives of the Christians in south Lebanon.” “We cannot control Haddad. Our policy is to support him in the interests of our security in the north and to exert influence to calm down the situation.”

Informed sources said the government refrains from cutting off aid to Haddad or otherwise applying strong pressure because of its commitment to the Lebanese Christians and the belief that any alternative to Haddad would be far worse for Israel. Israel distrusts the U.N. Force, which it says is ineffec tive in stopping guerrilla infiltration.

Israel charged that the Palestinian terrorists who killed three Israelis in the border kibbutz of Misgav Am on April 7 crossed through U.N. territory unhindered on their way to Israel. After the attack, Israel sent several hundred troops to patrol in southern Lebanon for five days, demonstrating a lack of faith in both the U.N. troops and Haddad’s militia.

Israeli sources charge that some 700 guerrillas now operate within the U.N. zone and that some peacekeeping troops have become sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Israel has caught two U.N. officers smuggling weapons to Palestinian groups inside Israel. The U. N.

Forces deny they are partial to either side and say their mission is hampered by lack of cooperation from Israel and the Christians. Spokesman Hugo Rocha said the U.N. troops have suffered as many casualties fighting Palestinians and their leftist Lebanese allies as they have against Haddad’s forces. Rocha said the U.N.

Command regularly complains to the Israeli army about Haddad’s actions but is told the Israelis are not responsible for the Lebanese militias. “What can we say? We are not playing games. We make a serious complaint and we expect a serious answer,” he said.

How this transcription was made

Masthead not readable on the scan. The label on the slide read: [masthead not on scan] — ASSEMBLED FROM 2 SCANS: the three-column page-1B article and its jump on 2B. “A News Analysis” is set as a boxed label between rules in the middle of column two — it is a section flag, NOT a deck, so `dek` is left empty. The excerpt joins the two parts in reading order. — NO masthead and NO date on either scan. The page-one portion is a cut clipping beginning at the headline; the jump carries only the jump head and the “From Page 1B” flag. Internal evidence puts it after 7 April 1980 (the Misgav Am attack is given that date) and after an Irish soldier died “last week”, which fits mid-to-late April 1980. Maria’s 21 April 1980 is plausible but NOT confirmed from the page, and neither is the paper. — Two clippings of one article, joined into a single image for the record (s088_1.png, s088_2.png).

Cite this clipping

"Militia Chief Embarrassing but Valuable Ally," (newspaper unidentified), 21 April 1980, p. 1B, continued on 2B (“Please See HADDAD, 2B” / “From Page 1B”). Covering Palestine archive, CP-1980-028. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1980-028