Mr. Sharon went to Beirut following the capture of eight Israeli soldiers seized by terrorists on 4 September. He also looked into the issue of dealing with P.L.O. terrorists who were left behind in the Lebanese capital after the bulk of the terrorists were evacuated from that city. The issue facing the I.D.F. was who would deal with them, the Lebanese army, units belonging to the Christian Phalangists, other forces, or the I.D.F. itself. In Beirut, Mr. Sharon made the following remarks:
Remarks by Defense Minister Ariel Sharon to correspondents in Beirut:
I made contact yesterday by way of the Americans and sent a strict warning to the Syrians. Although the soldiers were captured apparently by the terrorist organizations, but in territory under Syrian control and without any doubt under the full responsibility of the Syrians, we gave the Syrians a strict warning against any harm coming to the soldiers who were captured. We announced that we know for a certainty that they were all taken alive. I hope the Syrians understood that they will have to take all the necessary steps to make sure that their lives will be preserved. I once more turn to the I.D.F. soldiers and to the commanders to show extreme alertness. I have done this a number of times in the past months and especially in recent weeks...
The situation today is that there is a great deal of civilian traffic, the city (Beirut - ed.) is open and there is a need, especially now, for maximum preparedness - to the highest degree - and maximum attention.
Our forces are here, after most of them were thinned out - those on reserve duty were released - in order to ensure that the city should after all be a free city, in which it is possible to move about in safety. Indeed, all the barriers are down, everything is open to traffic; but there still in the city groups of armed people, local people mainly. We are speaking of Lebanese - in Beirut itself there are about 27 various groups which comprise about 7,000 armed personnel...
Q: There are no terrorists, Palestinians?
A: There are certainly some terrorists hiding out. In order to be able to locate these terrorists, and their remaining arms caches, and to deal with the existing organizations - an action which will be carried out by the Lebanese army -we are here and are assisting the Lebanese army, at its request. We are assisting in opening up barriers on roads and clearing out mines. And all this with the one aim of making Beirut an open city and a safe one. This is, of course, also in our interest. We are not speaking of fighting, but rather the gradual advance of the Lebanese army into the city; and when it so requests, it receives our assistance, as it receives assistance from others as well.