The World - News from March 30, 1989

Syrian troops and their Lebanese allies bombarded Christian areas of Beirut in defiance of an Arab League appeal for a truce, while Christian Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun stepped up his vitriolic rhetoric against Syria. At least seven people were killed and 24 wounded in the day’s violence in Lebanon. At a news conference at the bombed-out presidential palace, Aoun criticized U.S. Ambassador John McCarthy for being “somewhat wanting in courage” and not speaking out to protest the shelling until the ambassador’s residence was hit. The current fighting was triggered by a naval and aerial blockade imposed by Aoun against Muslim-run illegal ports.