Lebanese clash as debate on emergency rule begins

Christian Phalangist and Druze Muslim militias battled for a fourth day in the Lebanese mountains as the nation awaited the end of a parliamentary debate on whether to give the government emergency power to rule by decree for eight months. The debate could take days, Lebanese sources said. The Christian-Muslim clashes claimed two more lives, raising the death toll to 15 in four days.

US envoy Morris Draper, continuing to shuttle among the capitals of Lebanon, Israel, and Syria, met in Damascus with Syrian Foreign Minister Abdul Halim Khaddam on the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon.