text: Lebanon sentences pro-Israeli warlord to death. Haitham Haddadin 
   BEIRUT 1996-12-06 
   A Lebanese military court on Friday sentenced to death in absentia the commander of Israel's surrogate militia in south Lebanon on treason charges. The court convicted General Antoine Lahd, head of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), of collaborating with Israel with which Lebanon is officially at war. Lahd, a 69-year-old former Lebanese army major-general, heads the 3, 000-strong SLA militia which helps Israel hold a border zone in south Lebanon to ward off cross-frontier guerrilla raids on northern Israel. Lahd said a few days after the trial began on February 16 that Lebanese authorities must drop the charges or risk blocking any peace deal with the Jewish state. He said Israel was capable of pressuring Lebanon's Syrian-backed government to stop the legal pursuit. The charges against Lahd were: forming a hostile army, carrying weapons on Israel's side, helping Israel strip off a part of Lebanese territory by violence, forming an armed gang, killing or trying to kill Lebanese civilians by artillery shelling and kidnapping Lebanese citizens for long periods. Shortly before Lahd's trial began, a Beirut military prosecutor charged another 89 former Lebanese army soldiers with collaborating with Israel. No date has been set for the trial of the men, all members of the SLA living in the Israeli-held zone in south Lebanon. Israel and Lahd have repeatedly demanded safety guarantees for the SLA--a mixed Christian-Shi'ite Moslem force--which the Jewish states regards as loyal allies. Israel has said the Lebanese army must incorporate the SLA fighters into its ranks as an army brigade as a condition for peace. But Lebanese political analysts have said that would be out of the question and Lebanese authorities pre-empted the issue by taking legal action against Lahd. Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, calling Lahd " a great Lebanese patriot ", said earlier this year Lebanon had insulted the SLA commander by ordering his arrest on the treason charges. Peres, who was ousted in May by rightwing Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, said there could not be real negotiations with Lebanon " unless it will stop the maltreatment of the SLA and its commanders. " 
   The Beirut military court also sentenced to life in jail in absentia Etian Saqr, former head of the pro-Israeli Guardians of the Cedars, a small rightwing Christian civil war militia. Saqr, whose trial was concurrent with Lahd's, was convicted of " contacting the Israeli enemy, passing information to Israel and undertaking hostile acts against Lebanon ".
competitors: Lebanon pro-Israeli Haitham Haddadin BEIRUT Lebanese Israel Lebanon Antoine Lahd South Lebanon Army SLA Israel Lebanon Lahd Lebanese SLA Israel Lebanon Israel Lahd Lebanese Jewish Israel Lebanon Syrian-backed Lahd Israel Israel Lebanese Lebanese Lebanese Lahd Beirut Lebanese Israel SLA Israeli-held Lebanon Israel Lahd SLA Christian-Shi'ite Moslem Jewish Israel Lebanese SLA Lebanese Lebanese Lahd Israeli Shimon Peres Lahd Lebanese Lebanon SLA Peres Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu Lebanon SLA Beirut Etian Saqr pro-Israeli Guardians of the Cedars Christian Saqr Lahd Israeli Israel Lebanon