Saudis want more time on Lebanese cease-fire

Saudi Arabia has asked the United States to give it another 48 hours to seek a cease-fire in Lebanon before Washington ''resorts to measures it has warned it will take in support of the Lebanese authorities,'' state-run Beirut Radio said Wednesday.

The radio appeared to be referring to measures announced Tuesday by Washington, giving more latitude to the US Marines in Beirut to call air strikes and the use of guns from US warships off Lebanon's coast against antigovernment forces. Beirut Radio said the Saudi mediator, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, continued talks in Damascus aimed at ending the fighting.

An American spokesman in Beirut said the US is pouring military supplies into Lebanon as quickly as possible to support the Lebanese Army. Christian Phalange radio, meanwhile, reported yet another massacre - this time of 84 Christians deep in the Shouf mountains southeast of Beirut.