Word: bekaa
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...number between six and ten, who had been removed from the plane during its second Beirut stopover. There were reports that they were in the hands of the fanatical, pro-Iranian Hizballah (Party of God) organization, and had been moved from Beirut to Baalbek in the Syrian-dominated Bekaa Valley. This region has been a base for Islamic extremist groups over the past three years, and is thought to be the area where some of the seven American, one British and four French kidnap victims are currently being held...
...Islamic revolutionary state like Iran. One such group, called Islamic Amal, broke away in 1982 and set up headquarters in the eastern town of Baalbek under the leadership of Hussein Musawi, a former schoolteacher and pro-Iranian fanatic. Soon thereafter Iran sent hundreds of Revolutionary Guards into the Bekaa Valley to train an Islamic Amal militia and help Musawi consolidate his power...
...first day of the crisis Reagan secretly cabled Syrian President Hafez Assad and asked him to use his influence to free the hostages or at least keep them alive. Though the Damascus regime has harbored Shi'ite extremists in terrorist camps in Baalbek, a city in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, Assad is known to want to contain Shi'ite terror, as he takes his turn at trying to pacify Lebanon. His response to the U.S. request, according to Administration aides, was "positive." Assad is believed to have encouraged Berri to take a public role in mediating the crisis...
Like other people who are humiliated and threatened, we talk now mostly about retribution. Washington echoes the brave calls of armchair generals from the provinces who would devastate the Bekaa Valley or demolish the Beirut airport or launch a search-and-destroy mission in the city. Retaliation may have its place when, in that rare instance, terrorists separate themselves from the fabric of innocent society. The better answer lies in every American's awareness and understanding that terrorism must be met on its own terms...
Fragments of evidence -- secret payments, cryptic cables, visits from high Iranian officials -- indicate that Khomeini's regime may be in close touch with the terrorists, if not managing them. The camps enjoy at least the tacit support of Syria as well, since the Bekaa Valley is controlled by Damascus. In a remarkably candid speech last week, Syrian President Hafez Assad conceded that Syria was in contact with extremist groups who are holding seven Americans, four Frenchmen and one Briton, seized over the past 18 months. Assad mildly rebuked the kidnapers for violating a "code of honor between combatants," but praised...