TRIPOLI, Lebanon -- Israeli gunboats shelled Yasser Arafat's guerrillas again Thursday hours after the besieged forces fought their fiercest battles in 10 days with Palestinian rebels. Greece said it would evacuate Arafat and his men this weekend.
The Israeli naval ships off the northern Lebanese coast fired a 15-minute bombardment at the port area of Tripoli and the coastline south of the city around 11 p.m. local time, a witness said, with cannon and rocket fire.
The Palestinians fired back, but there were no reports of casualties.
In Tel Aviv, the Israeli military command confirmed the bombardment in a brief statement that claimed direct hits on Palestine Liberation Organization positions. It said there were no Israeli casualties in the return fire.
The shelling was the third in a week by the Israelis, who are harassing Arafat as he and his fighters, cornered by Syrian-backed Palestinian rebels, prepare to flee Tripoli.
A spokesman for the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry in Athens said Greece will send five ships this weekend for the PLO chairman. He said American and French warships will accompany the ships from Larnaca, Cyprus to Tripoli, and then escort them with Arafat's men to Tunis and North Yemen.
However, in Washington, both the State Department and the Pentagon denied American warships had been committed to protect Arafat, saying there was 'absolutely no foundation' to the statement.
The Greek spokesman said the Greek ships would carry the U.N. flag after they leave Larnaca for Tripoli. The United Nations agreed to allow the use of its flag but Israel has raised objections.
In Tripoli, reporters said one of Arafat's men was killed and two others wounded in fierce fighting that erupted Thursday with the rebels. Two civilians also died and four others were injured.
The fighting raged in the northern port city between the pro-Arafat Islamic unification militia and the pro-Syrian Alawite Red Cavaliers militia.
A spokesman for Arafat denied his forces were involved in the fighting, the worst in Tripoli in 10 days, but witnesses said both PLO loyalists and rebels were drawn into the battle.
Tripoli's shops closed and the streets emptied. The sound of mortars, anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank weapons and rocket-propelled grenades sent residents running into bomb shelters, the PLO spokesman said.
Israeli reconnaissance planes flew over the port and north Lebanon, state Beirut radio said. But there were no new reports of Israeli shelling of Arafat positions.
Syrian-backed PLO dissidents have been battling Arafat loyalists since May in a campaign to oust the PLO chairman from his 14-year leadership of the guerrilla organization.
Under terms of a cease-fire agreement, Arafat and his men are to be evacuated from the Lebanese town next week.
In Athens, Greek government spokesman Dimitris Maroudas said the evacuation on Greek ships chartered by the PLO was made possible through consultations with Israel, Syria, the United States, Italy, France and Britain.
He said it had resulted in 'guarantees from all the interested parties for the safety' of the ships that will evacuate the 4,000 fighters and some of their families.
On a visit to Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir refused to say whether Israel would allow Arafat's safe passage from Lebanon, saying, 'We don't want him anywhere.'
