Word: beirutization
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Mangled metal, crushed bodies, bloody survivors screaming for help amid piles of rubble. Last week terrorism showed up again in its favorite city, Beirut. Rene Moawad, President of Lebanon for only 17 days and the embodiment of a fragile new attempt at peace, was decapitated when a remote-controlled bomb, hidden in a shuttered shop, exploded as his motorcade passed by after ceremonies marking the 46th anniversary of Lebanon's independence. The estimated 550 lbs. of explosives tore trees out by their roots, hurled the engine block of Moawad's armored Mercedes 50 yards, shattered windows a mile away...
Though that progress was slight, the bombers were evidently determined to destroy it. Many Lebanese speculated that General Michel Aoun, the bitterest foe of the Arab League peace plan and the commander of fanatically loyal Christian forces in East Beirut, was behind the killing. Aoun has been outraged that the plan permits 40,000 Syrian troops to remain indefinitely in Lebanon. He had pronounced Moawad's election void and vowed to throw out the Syrians. Aoun is too weak to achieve that goal but was strong enough to cause havoc. Before the assassination, thousands of his mostly youthful supporters crowded...
...hastily called session, meeting under heavy guard in the crossroads town of Chtaura, east of Beirut, parliament elected Elias Hraoui, also a ) Maronite Catholic, to succeed Moawad. Hraoui, 59, is a wealthy landowner who has good contacts with Lebanese Muslims. He promptly appointed a Cabinet of national reconciliation with representatives from the country's seven main sects, a major accomplishment. "Of course the Deputies are frightened," said Boutros Harb, a Christian Deputy. "But courage is the son of fear...
Despite the courage of Lebanon's parliamentarians, the fear in Beirut, spawning an exodus of thousands, is that Aoun's soldiers might clash with Syrian troops. A Syrian-supported attack on Aoun's stronghold is likely if, after a face-saving interval, the general does not accept the new government's authority. By week's end he had taken no action hostile to the government beyond denouncing Hraoui's election as illegitimate. Hraoui, on the other hand, swiftly moved to assert his powers by dismissing the three-man interim Cabinet that has been serving under Aoun...
Moawad is opposed by General Michel Aoun, commander of the fanatically loyal Christian army in East Beirut. Aoun is enraged that, as part of the peace plan, Moawad is willing to diminish Christian political power and let 40,000 Syrian troops continue to occupy large parts of Lebanon...