News In Brief

Pro-Syrian militias agree to truce in north Lebanon

Leaders of two pro-Syrian rival militias agreed to a truce Sunday and promised to withdraw their militiamen from the embattled areas. The agreement followed four days of fierce fighting in north Lebanon in which 40 people died and 158 were wounded.

Robert Franjieh, commander of the Marada militia, met in the Syrian capital of Damascus with Inaam Raad, leader of the rival Syrian Social Nationalist Party , and Syrian Vice-President Abdul Halim Khaddam. A Syrian government official said later that the two militia leaders had ''agreed on a number of basics to restore unity and solidarity.''