Word: amal
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Soon, a rescue squad arrived by helicopter. Under heavy fire from Hizballah and Amal militiamen, as well as Lebanese army troops, the team evacuated all the commandos but one, who could not be found. An incoming mortar shell killed one of the rescuers, a doctor. A Lebanese woman and child caught in the cross fire were also killed, and six other civilians were injured, as were six Lebanese militiamen and two army soldiers...
Just what the Israelis were up to outside their zone in Lebanon remained unexplained. Lebanese sources speculated that the Israelis intended to snatch Sheik Abdul-Amir Kabalan, who has a house in Insariyeh and is influential in Amal, one of the Shi'ite militia groups. Israel has carried out such kidnappings before, but military insiders downplayed this theory. They hinted instead that the mission was to plant explosive devices in the area, targeted either at a nearby Hizballah post or an Amal encampment...
...Israeli government is mystified as to how the invasion was discovered. One possibility is that Hizballah or Amal fighters spotted the commandos early on and quickly set up the ambush. But survivors say the assault seemed well planned, lending weight to the theory that the top-secret mission had been compromised, perhaps by a Lebanese collaborator used by Israel in the operation...
...unilateral Israeli withdrawal, however, would be no guarantee of Israel's own security. The Lebanese government is neither capable nor willing to curb militias such as Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad or Amal. Likewise, Syria, whose military occupies much of Lebanon and pulls the strings of the Lebanese marionette government, has no interest in guaranteeing Israel's security. For Syria, the prospect of peace in Lebanon is a bargaining chip to be used in negotiations regarding the Golan Heights. Without the security zone, major cities in the north of Israel, such as Haifa and Safed, would be in range of rockets fired...
...intelligence service VEVAK" and a Revolutionary Guards member. His assignment, assert German prosecutors, was to "liquidate" the Kurd leader as part of a "persecution strategy of the Iranian minister for intelligence and security against the Iranian opposition." The other four defendants, all Lebanese, are veterans of the Hizballah and Amal militia...