Release of Beirut Hostages Anticipated

LARNACA, Cyprus--Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite flew here last night by U.S. military helicopter after a surprise visit to Beirut, where he reported progress in efforts to free the American hostages.

A Christian radio station in Beirut said a hostage release was in the works, but the report could not be verified.

At least six of the Americans kidnapped in Lebanon still are held captive. A seventh missing American has been reported killed.

President Reagan, questioned by reporters while on a political campaign tour in Washington state, said only, "I've got my fingers crossed."

While Reagan, Secretary of State George Shultz and national security adviser John Poindexter voiced hope that the hostages might be released, none would say whether there was any reason to believe that was imminent.

The State Department said it had reduced an already scaled-down embassy staff in Beirut for security reasons but refused to say how many people were involved. Department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to say if the move was prompted by a particular development.

An administration source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the reduction was carried out gradually and was decided on after Britain broke relations with Syria and the United States recalled its ambassador from Syria, the major power broker in Lebanon.

Waite, the special envoy of Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie, made three previous trips to Beirut to win the hostages release. Waite was whisked away in a U.S. Embassy car after landing in Cyprus, reporters and airport officials said.

An immigration official who did not give his name said Waite was expected to return to Lebanon on Saturday.

Throughout the more than two years foreigners have been held hostage in Lebanon, there have been repeated erroneous reports of an impending release. In other cases, some hostages were freed with no advance word.

Earlier Friday, Waite revealed his presence in the Lebanese capital in a telephone call to The Associated Press office in Moslem west Beirut.

"Simply, I'm here," he said. "Something might happen. Nothing hard yet, but it's moving."

When Waite spoke to the AP in Beirut, he declined to say where he was or when he arrived.

"I've been here quietly," he said. "It appears to be moving. You keep an eye, just keep an eye. Bye-bye for now."

A Lebanese Christian radio station said two French hostages were turned over to the Syrian military intelligence chief in Lebanon, Col. Ghazi Kenaan, at the Bekaa Valley town of Anjar in preparation for their release along with the six Americans.

The report by the Voice of Lebanon, which is anti-Syrian and affiliated with President Amin Gemayel's right-wing Christian Phalange Party, could not be confirmed independently.

"Marcel Carton and Marcel Fontaine have been moved to Anjar. They are in Ghazi Kenaan's custody within the frame of a plan to release them along with six American hostages," Voice of Lebanon said.

The radio reported without elaboration that the eight were being freed "in return for releasing Georges Ibrahim Abdallah," a Lebanese Christian jailed in France on charges related to terrorism.

In Paris, a French Foreign Ministry official, speaking anonymously in accordance with custom, said the report that the hostages had been turned over to Syrians and were about to be freed was "without foundation."

Waite said on previous trips to Beirut in November and December last year that he was there at the request of Islamic Jihad, the pro-Iranian Shiite Moslem group that holds at least three Americans and the two Frenchmen.

Islamic Holy War holds Terry A. Anderson, 39, chief Middle East correspondent for the AP; David P. Jacobsen, 55, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut; and Thomas Sutherland, 55, the university's acting dean of agriculture. All were abducted in 1985.

Three other Americans have been seized in the last two months: Frank Herbert Reed, 53; Joseph James Cicippio, 56; and Edward Austin Tracy, 56.