The World - News from March 12, 1989

Lebanon’s Christian Cabinet ordered Beirut’s airport closed after Druze militia shelled the city’s port and the Defense Ministry compound. Police said at least six people died in the latest violence. The army commander, Gen. Michel Aoun, ordered the airport’s closure because of “threats to civil aviation safety,” but Muslim officials running the facility said they would not comply. One official said the airport--Lebanon’s only civil aviation facility--”will remain open and functioning.” The renewed fighting underscored heightened tensions over an air-and-sea blockade enforced by Aoun’s troops since Monday. The blockade is aimed at illegal ports operated by the country’s warring militias.