Smuggling Lebanon

Some food is reaching Baghdad overland from Lebanon in violation of U.N. sanctions against Iraq, a Lebanese truck driver said Saturday. The driver, who asked not to be identified, said trucks were taking food such as rice and sugar from Christian East Beirut to Damascus, Syria, where the manifests were changed to show Jordan as the destination. When trucks reached Jordan, the manifests were again changed with Iraq put down as the final destination, he said.

Some food is reaching Baghdad overland from Lebanon in violation of U.N. sanctions against Iraq, a Lebanese truck driver said Saturday. The driver, who asked not to be identified, said trucks were taking food such as rice and sugar from Christian East Beirut to Damascus, Syria, where the manifests were changed to show Jordan as the destination. When trucks reached Jordan, the manifests were again changed with Iraq put down as the final destination, he said.

The first phase of the Middle East peace conference has ended. Whether there will be a second phase any time soon depends on whether Arabs and Israelis, with American coaxing, are able to agree in Madrid over the weekend where the prospective next round of bilateral talks should be held. Phase one went pretty much as most observers expected. On all sides the formal speeches, interview statements and rebuttals struck familiar themes and recited well-known grievances.

Iran, reacting to the cutoff of U.S. aid to the Lebanese military, told Lebanese officials Tuesday that it would make up the potential $100-million loss. The promise came one day after disclosures that Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, decided to freeze the money because of concerns that the U.S. aid might be buying arms that could be turned against Israel.

  At a small table in a hotel restaurant where elderly men drank coffee and played speed chess, Abu Ismail's phone rang. He picked it up and squinted at the caller ID. "Allo," he said. "A 16? How many? $2,000? If it's clean, bring it, yes. " With that, Abu Ismail bought one M-16 assault rifle for the Syrian rebellion. For months, arms merchants such as Abu Ismail have been buying black-market weapons in Lebanon for the insurgency against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Asked how things are going in Syria, a Damascus businessman scooped up a government newspaper, which had given front-page coverage to an article about students from the Third World signing a petition in support of President Hafez Assad. "When they get down to twisting the arms of kids from Sri Lanka," the businessman said, "you know things are pretty rough." A Western diplomat was even more emphatic.