Word: berries
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Amal became not only one of Lebanon's most potent military forces but also a major political influence. Both characteristics came into prominent display following Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Under the leadership of Nabih Berri, Amal has forged an on-again-off-again alliance with the Druze forces of Walid Jumblatt and sometimes serves as the agent of Syria, a major force in the Lebanese conflict. In February 1984, Berri persuaded Shi'ite members of the Lebanese Army to defect to Amal, which proceeded to take control of West Beirut...
...while he was gaining power in the capital, Berri was also acquiring radical challenges from within his own camp. His decision to join the government of President Amin Gemayel, a Maronite, infuriated the growing number of Khomeini- inspired zealots who want to turn Lebanon into an 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...
...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. On the first day of the hijacking, Berri had put a dozen armed Amal militiamen aboard the plane to take control from the original hijackers, believed to be free- lancers related to Shi'ites languishing in the Israeli prison camps. With...
...Administration officials searching for a solution to the stalemate, Berri seemed to offer hope. On the fourth day of the crisis, National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane called the Amal leader and in effect told him that the burden was on him to resolve the crisis. Berri had it in his power, McFarlane said, to secure the release of both the American hostages and the Shi'ites held by the Israelis. But if the hostages were not freed, McFarlane warned, Berri would be held personally responsible. Said a White House official: "The thrust of our diplomatic effort became to convince Berri...
...Berri's position was precarious. Some U.S. officials feared a reprise of the Iranian experience, when efforts to negotiate with moderate leaders made the radicals inside the embassy more intransigent. As it turned out, the Iranian "students" used the hostages as pawns to consolidate Khomeini's power and to drive from government moderates like Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, the Foreign Minister who had the temerity to bargain with "the Great Satan." Trying to avoid a similar fate, Berri threatened to "wash his hands" of the whole affair and turn the hostages over to their original hijackers unless the U.S. arranged a "swap...