Syrian troops today entered Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold but a source said they would not occupy the pro-Iranian militia's main barracks, where most of the 18 foreign hostages are believed held. Meanwhile, civilians, who had fled their homes in the southern slums began trickling back to piece together their shattered lives. The first Syrian soldiers moved into the 16 square miles of tin-roofed huts and cement-block apartments on Friday, putting an end to a three-week battle between Hezbollah and the mainstream Shiite Moslem militia Amal. Sources at the Syrian command said the troops started moving at midday. One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the plan does not cover Hezbollah's main barracks in Hay Madi, where most of the foreign hostages are believed held by Shiite extremists under Hezbollah's wing. The source said the barracks is considered part of the demarcation line with Christian east Beirut _ the only area of south Beirut where Syria will allow either militia to maintain gunmen. A Lebanese security source, speaking privately, said the Syrian deployment in Hay Madi will ``tighten the grip on Hezbollah. It means the kidnappers will not be able to move the hostages from one place to another.'' The hostages include nine Americans, three Britons, a West German, an Italian, an Irishman, an Indian and two unidentified men. The two-phase Syrian deployment, implementing a cease-fire agreed to by Syrian and Iran, ended fighting in the slums narrow alleys that police say left 300 people dead and 1,000 wounded since it began May 6. Abdul Hadi Hamadi, Hezbollah's security chief and a reputed kidnapper, escorted Syrian officers into south Beirut Friday. His public appearance stole the spotlight from the Syrian move. Hamadi's brothers, Mohammed Ali and Abbas, are held in West Germany on terrorist charges. Mohammed Ali is accused of the 1985 TWA hijacking in which a U.S. Navy diver was killed and 39 Americans were held hostage for 17 days. Abdul Hadi, who represents Hezbollah on a four-party committee set up Friday to supervise the truce, is believed to have mastermined the January 1987 abduction of two West Germans to swap them for his jailed brothers. One of the Germans, Alfred Schmidt, was released last September. The other, Rudolf Cordes, 53, is one of the 18 foreign hostages. A 900-strong force of Syrian infantry men set up five checkpoints Friday along a disengagement line between the Shiyah neighborhood, held by Amal, and the Hezbollah-controlled Ghobeiri district. The demarcation line stretched through two miles of gutted shops, smoldering cars and bullet-scarred cement block shanties. Broken power cables dangled the streets, littered with glass shards and used cartridges. The Syrians also erected checkpoints at key road junctions in two Hezbollah-controlled neighborhoods. Civilians today started returning to the Syrian-policed districts of south Beirut to check their property. ``My life's earnings have gone,'' said Azzam Sadeq as he inspected his gutted apartment that overlooks Hezbollah's positions across the street. A helmeted Syrian soldier, armed with a Soviet-designed AK-47 assault rifle, guarded the entrance to the six-story apartment building. The soldier, who refused to be named, only allowed residents into the building to ``prevent looting.'' ``All the doors to the apartments are open. They were either shot open by gunmen or opened by the pressure of exploding shells,'' the soldier said. Sadeq said fire ``destroyed'' everything in his third floor apartment. ``I don't have furniture anymore. My (two) daughters' books and clothes were also burned. We don't have enough money to repair the damage and buy new furniture and clothes,'' he said, his eyes filling with tears. Sadeq said he, his wife and two daughters, fled the apartment shortly after the fighting broke out. Hezbollah took more than 90 percent of the slums in the fighting. ``May God's wrath burn the gunmen, all the gunmen,'' shouted a gray-haired, middle-aged man as he inspectged his demolished one-story house. ``They fought in my house. Both Amal and Hezbollah took turns occupying my house.'' A young man, an apparent Hezbollah member, told him the party's spiritual guide Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah ``will compensate for your losses.'' ``Neither Fadlallah nor Allah can compensate,'' the man shouted back. ``May you all roast in Hell.'' Syria has 25,000 soldiers in eastern and northern Lebanon and about 7,500 patrolling Moslem west Beirut. President Hafez Assad of Syria has become Lebanon's main power broker during 13 years of civil war, but Iran has used Hezbollah to challenge Syrian influence among the 1.2 million Shiites, the largest sect in Lebanon.
