Word: berrie
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...soon became apparent, however, that the battle was as much for the hearts and minds of the army as for territory. Heeding a call from Berri, Shi'ite members of the Lebanese Army deserted in droves. Many of them joined the Amal militia, surrendering equipment like armored personnel carriers. A few army outposts fell without a shot being fired, while others were taken only after ferocious battles. In many places, local ceasefires were arranged; army soldiers were allowed to keep their weapons if they promised not to use them...
...Berri and Jumblatt, ironically, could still save the army as an institution. Although they called upon Muslim soldiers not to fight last week, both leaders want to preserve the units that support them. If and when a political settlement is reached that gives them a greater share of power, Berri and Jumblatt do not want to face the task of rebuilding an army from scratch...
Last week when Muslim guerrillas of the Shi'ite Amal militia led the attack on Lebanese Army units controlling West Beirut, it signaled the emergence of yet another faction from the wings onto center stage. With that stunning victory, the once obscure Amal, under Leader Nabih Berri, was suddenly poised to play a decisive role in Lebanon's future...
...Amal has steered a relatively moderate course, rejecting the fanatical Islam associated with the Shi'ites of Iran's Ayatullah Khomeini. When Moussa Sadr mysteriously disappeared after a falling-out with Muammar Gaddafi during a visit to Libya in 1978, he was soon succeeded by the forceful Berri, a lawyer by training, who quickly won a reputation for keeping his own counsel. Like other Muslim leaders, Berri has fiercely opposed the Christian Phalangists. But although the Amal gets much of its financial and military support from the Syrians, Berri has refused to align himself completely with Damascus, arguing...
That moderation, however, is increasingly endangered by a wave of religious fundamentalism washing through the Shi'ite community. In June of 1982, an aide to Berri, Hussein Musawi, broke away to form a radical splinter group, the Islamic Amal. Musawi has since forged close links with Islamic Jihad, the Muslim extremist group that claimed responsibility for the attacks on the U.S. and French compounds last October, and the murder of Beirut's American University President Malcolm Kerr last month. Within the mainstream Amal, young Shi'ites have attacked occupying Israeli troops in southern Lebanon with the encouragement...