Negotiations Preceded Attack On Convoy of Fleeing Lebanese

About 9 a.m., an Israeli officer appeared at the Marjayoun garrison that housed a 350-man mixed force of Lebanese army and Internal Security Forces personnel, under the command of Brig. Gen. Adnan Daoud. Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said Daoud called him immediately on a cellphone and asked whether he should resist. The two decided to let the Israeli officer in, Fatfat said.

After a four-hour tour of the base, during which he asked whether any Hezbollah combatants were present, the Israeli officer advised Daoud to post a white flag at the entrance, then departed. Daoud was later placed under house arrest on suspicion of treason because of a videotape showing him serving tea to the Israeli officer, but he was released a week later and assigned to resume his post.

Later that day, according to Fatfat and witnesses in Marjayoun, another Israeli unit showed up and started shooting at the base, leading Daoud to call Fatfat again for guidance. Without resistance, the second group of Israeli soldiers pushed their way into the base, disarmed the troops and locked Daoud in a room, saying they were occupying the facility.

A frantic round of contacts involving Fatfat, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman and the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv led to assurances from the Israeli Defense Ministry that the soldiers had no orders to occupy the base, Fatfat said. The immediate crisis subsided, he said, but he and Daoud at 7 that evening began discussing when and how the garrison should withdraw from Marjayoun.

Working through UNIFIL, the Lebanese government asked for and received authorization from the Israeli military for the unit to leave for Beirut under a UNIFIL escort, according to Fatfat and a UNIFIL official who declined to be named. At 5 the next morning, they said, UNIFIL headquarters at Naqourah in southern Lebanon telephoned the authorization for a 3 p.m. departure to Gen. Abdul-Rahman al-Shehaiti, an aide to Gen. Georges Khoury, the head of Lebanese military intelligence.

Two gleaming white UNIFIL armored personnel carriers with Indian troops showed up in Marjayoun that morning, ready to lead the way. "We had a total agreement that they will go out through the Bekaa [Valley] and on to Beirut," Fatfat said.

The authorization specified the route the convoy was to follow, according to Fatfat and the UNIFIL official. But Marjayoun officials discovered a road on the agreed route had been bombed and needed to be repaired before the column could pass, leading to a long delay. By the time repairs were made, the UNIFIL unit said it was too late to begin and was reluctant to accompany the column, Fatfat said.

Another round of consultations began, according to Fatfat and others, and just before 4 p.m., the decision was made to depart. "Let's go," Daoud shouted.

By that time, Mayor Hamra recalled, hundreds of civilian cars had lined up on Marjayoun's main street, ready to follow Daoud and his men out of the war zone. They had been assured earlier that the security forces would stay put to help guarantee Marjayoun's safety, although Israeli radio broadcasts, beamed in Arabic into Lebanon, urged people to stay in their homes. The families of Marjayoun judged that if Daoud and his men were evacuating under a U.N. escort, then that was a signal to get out. "There was a lot of confusion when people saw the U.N. show up," Hamra said.

Some townspeople feared for their lives under Israeli occupation, particularly since Israeli artillery was shelling the nearby Hezbollah stronghold of Khiam. Others were reluctant to be seen cooperating with Israelis, a stigma that marks Marjayoun because of its role during the earlier occupation. Still others feared an Israeli attack; witnesses said Hezbollah fighters had sneaked into town and fired rockets on Israel from behind the town hospital.

So when the convoy pulled out of Marjayoun -- with Israeli artillery shells crashing down a few hundred yards away -- it stretched the entire length of Marjayoun's main street. Daher, a local reporter for the Reuters news agency, said he estimated 1,300 Jeeps and cars, led by Daoud's black Jeep Cherokee, carried about 3,000 people for what was to be a drive north up the Bekaa to Beirut.

'It Was Total Chaos'

Despite the repairs, the roads along the route were heavily pocked by Israel's bombing campaign, holding the convoy to a snail's pace. "To get 12 miles, it took us four hours," Hamra said. Residents from villages the cars passed through further slowed progress by coming out to offer water and snacks. Some cars stopped. Others honked and tried to proceed. Tempers flared, and the convoy broke up into sections.