Lebanon: Bed Check In Beirut

In the past five years, the American University of Beirut has seen so much trouble that the front gates to the campus have been sandbagged, and students have taken to tucking pistols in their belts. Last week security was unexpectedly upgraded by Syrian commandos.

In a midnight raid on two men's dormitories, Syrian troops, who moved into West Beirut last month to quell fighting among Muslim factions, shook startled students awake and checked identity cards for five hours before leading away 15 suspected troublemakers in pajamas and confiscating an impressive cache of weapons.

At week's end at least one member of Iran's radical Hizballah (Party of God) was still in custody. When it was all over, Syrian Brigadier General Ghazi Kenaan, who ordered public portraits of Ayatullah Khomeini in Beirut whitewashed, promised to protect students' freedom of political expression.