The World - News from May 25, 1988

Blasts of tank and artillery fire jolted Beirut as fighting between two Shia Muslim factions escalated after the collapse of Syrian and Iranian talks aimed at reining in their allies. Members of Iranian-allied Hezbollah, or Party of God, and the pro-Syrian Amal militias fought each other with howitzers, mortars, tanks and rockets. Police said at least seven people were killed in the latest fighting for control of the slums, which began May 6. In the northern city of Baalbek, meanwhile, an organization claiming to be Islamic Jihad threatened to kill all the foreign hostages in Lebanon unless their governments begin direct negotiations with the abductors.