The World - News from July 9, 1985

Lebanese Muslim and Druze leaders met in Damascus, Syria, seeking ways to halt the bloodshed in their country and to counter U.S. sanctions imposed on Lebanon in retaliation for the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 by Lebanese terrorists. Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, whose country is the power broker in Lebanon, met with the delegates for five hours in the first session of the two-day conference. In the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli, meanwhile, heavy fighting was reported between the Tawhid militia, a Sunni Muslim force, and militiamen of the pro-Syrian Arab Democratic Party, with five people killed, according to police.