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.