Word: gemayels
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...Marines headquartered at Beirut International Airport, as well as U.S. diplomats in the capital, American forces had to help the inexperienced but determined Lebanese Army hold on to Suq al Gharb. The mountain village had taken on enormous symbolic importance for the Christian-dominated government of President Amin Gemayel. If the army failed at Suq al Gharb, the Syrian-backed forces might be in a position to replace Gemayel's government with a regime that would be more to Syria's liking. Inevitably, such a regime would be receptive to Soviet influence and hostile to Western interests in the region...
Whatever happens next, the U.S. has little choice but to stay put in Lebanon for a while. To do otherwise would be to jeopardize the Gemayel government, alienate other moderate Arab regimes, radically reduce Washington's influence and prestige throughout the Middle East, and transform that region into an unchallenged target of opportunity for the Soviet Union. So the U.S. strategy will be to maintain the military commitment, probably at roughly the present level, until such time as a central Lebanese government is able to stand...
Failing that, the Syrians will pdo their best to reduce the small portion of Lebanon that Gemayel actually controls. At the moment, his government's franchise extends scarcely beyond the city limits of Beirut, and even in some sections of the capital its control is shaky...
...lies only nine miles east of the capital and has a commanding position overlooking both the city and the airport, and at other villages in the Aley area, as Druze forces stepped up their efforts to drive the Lebanese Army out of the hills. Resisting the Druze pressure, the Gemayel government insisted that the Druze forces were being heavily reinforced by troops from Syria and a rebel faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Many Lebanese, especially the Christians, have long been fearful that somehow the Palestinian guerrillas, in one guise or another, would find a way to slip back into...
With negotiations stalled and the fighting unchecked, Administration officials freely acknowledged their disappointment at the ineffectiveness of the Gemayel government and the obduracy of the Syrians. Reflecting on the McFarlane mission, a State Department official said: "We are pretty much at the end game." Yet the Administration knows that to remove the Marines now could only make the situation in Lebanon worse, so the present policy is likely to continue...