FRIENDS of British journalist John McCarthy yesterday launched a new

campaign in London to win his freedom three years after he was kidnapped

in Lebanon.

McCarthy, 32, acting bureau chief in Beirut for Worldwide Television

News, was seized by four gunmen on the way to the airport on April 17,

1986 -- only days after US jets had taken off from bases in Britain to

bomb Libya.

McCarthy's girlfriend Jill Morrell, who has fought tirelessly for his

release, launched a cinema advertisement with the slogan: ''Close your

eyes and think of England. John McCarthy's done nothing else for the

last three years.''

Morrell renewed her attacks on the Government's low-profile policy

towards McCarthy and two other British hostages in Lebanon -- Anglican

church envoy Terry Waite and Belfast teacher Brian Keenan.

''What we find frustrating now is that three years later there is no

perception by (the Government) that their policy has failed at all,''

she told BBC TV.

In BEIRUT, tanks battled at close quarters in the streets as artillery

mercilessly pounded apartment blocks where frightened residents tried to

hide in basements and shelters.

Security sources said tank battles between Syrian gunners backed by

their local Moslem allies and mainly Christian troops were raging across

Beirut' Green Line dividing the city in Moslem and Christian sectors.

Artillery shells were falling on almost every street in the city, they

said.

United States and Arab League mediators intensified efforts to end the

nearly five weeks of terror and mayhem which has killed at least 219

people and wounded 800 since March 14.

Britain's ambassador in Beirut yesterday described the desperate

situation in the city after heavy fighting which cost the life of the

Spanish ambassador.

''The city is breaking down, it is virtually dead,'' said Mr Alan

Ramsey, adding there were no immediate plans to pull British officials

out of the country.

''I think that governments will have to reflect about the usefulness

of maintaining missions in a place that first of all ... etc''.

On the death of the Spanish ambassador, he added: ''It was a very

great shock. He was a personal friend.''

The part of the city in which the British Embassy is located was

without water and electricity after constant shelling and rocket attacks

on the Christian sector.