Bekaa Valley calm after PLO faction fighting
June 6, 1983
Beirut
The Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon was reported calm after rival Palestinian factions Saturday fought the first major engagement since the start of a four-week-old mutiny.
Sources in Damascus said dissidents opposed to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's policies had extended their demands and wanted a bigger say in the running of Arafat's deeply split commando group Fatah. At least four people were killed and a dozen injured Saturday in the exchanges of artillery and rocket fire between the pro- and anti-Arafat factions outside the ancient town of Baalbek, 60 miles east of Beirut.