The World - News from Aug. 14, 1986

A delegation of Arab-Americans seeking the release of Americans held by Muslim terrorists in Lebanon failed to contact the hostages’ captors due to “the difficult circumstances still prevailing in Lebanon,” the group’s leader said in Damascus, Syria. Archbishop Philip Saliba of the Antiochan Orthodox Church of North America said the delegation arrived in Damascus last week and met with Syrian President Hafez Assad on Tuesday. Three Americans are believed held by Muslim fundamentalists, who have reported killing a fourth. As a condition for the hostages’ release, the terrorists have demanded the release of 17 comrades jailed in Kuwait.