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