Word: amal
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...soon they were on their way back to a schoolyard in an Amal-controlled neighborhood in Beirut. Waiting for them were at least ten Red Cross vehicles that would take them to Damascus, where a U.S. Air Force C-141 StarLifter transport was ready to fly them to West Germany and freedom after 17 days of the televised Terrorist Suspense Spectacular...
...Beirut time, 10:45 a.m. in Washington, the freedom ride finally began along the mountainous 75-mile road to Damascus. Accompanying the hostages were armed escorts from Amal and from another Lebanese faction, the Druze. Also in the caravan were representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian army officers and security agents, which helped emphasize the pivotal role Syria had played in arranging the release of the long-waylaid passengers and crew of TWA Flight...
...main reason for the nerve-racking 24-hour delay in the release of the hostages was a last-minute demand by Nabih Berri, leader of the Amal militia, that Washington give assurances there would be no retaliation by the U.S. or Israel against the Shi'ites after the hostages were set free. Amal spokesmen conveyed their anger at some remarkably ill-timed remarks on Friday by Reagan. In the speech in Chicago Heights, Ill., the President called the captors "murderers and barbarians," adding ominously: "Terrorists, and those who support them, must and will be held to account...
...Amal leaders seemed to be satisfied. One militiaman quoted Syrian officials as saying that the U.S. had given an assurance not to retaliate. As Berri explained to reporters on Sunday, "We were ready to take them to Damascus yesterday, but after Reagan threatened us we had to delay their departure. I had to talk to the hijackers and to my people...
After the hostages had been reunited on Sunday, the four confirmed that they had been removed from the aircraft on its second visit to Beirut and were not part of the group that had been taken into custody by the Amal militia. The hostages said that they had been detained for the first nine days in what they called "a bunker" in the Bekaa Valley. The first time they had seen the other hostages was last Tuesday night when they were brought to Beirut for a visit by Red Cross officials. "We were pretty frightened," admitted Robert Trautmann...