Word: hizballah
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...mortar shells reverberated in the narrow alleyways of Beirut's southern suburbs. Figures in camouflage fatigues crouched behind the crumbling concrete-block walls of abandoned apartment buildings, clutching Kalashnikovs and scanning the area ahead for signs of movement before advancing. Red headbands identified the men as members of Hizballah, the disciplined and fanatical Shi'ite militia supported by Iran. After three weeks of combat, Hizballah's militants, led by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, had seized control of virtually the entire area of Beirut's southern suburbs from the Syrian-backed Amal militia. Nearly 300 people were killed in the clashes...
...While Hizballah emerged as the clear winner on the ground, a larger victory may fall to Syrian President Hafez Assad. In late-night talks at the presidential villa near the Syrian seaside resort of Latakia last week, Assad and a four-member Hizballah delegation reached agreement on a cease-fire in the Beirut suburbs, followed 24 hours later by the entry into the area of a peacekeeping contingent of Syrian troops. On Friday morning, 900 Syrian infantrymen, armed with machine guns and grenade launchers and accompanied by Lebanese police, moved into a buffer zone between the warring militias. Under Syrian...
...extending Syria's security role beyond the western part of Beirut, Assad reinforced his position as Lebanon's leading power broker. At the same time, he managed to preserve a relatively cordial relationship with Iran, which had given its blessing to Hizballah's negotiators. Iran's cooperation may have been motivated in part by the battlefield losses it has suffered recently in the eight-year-old gulf war with Iraq. Last week Iraqi troops recaptured Iranian-occupied territory east of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, beyond the battered southern port city of Basra...
Iranian acceptance of the Syrian army's entry into the Beirut suburbs was thus perhaps a gesture of gratitude for the support Assad has given Iran throughout the conflict in the gulf. Iran could also claim that the peaceful solution prevented certain Hizballah defeat in Beirut had Syria used force, as it threatened to several times...
Assad, who has been trying to shed Syria's image as a sponsor of terrorism, is concerned for the safety of the 16 American and other foreign hostages thought to be held by Hizballah or other militants. Because many of the captives are believed to be held in bullet-scarred buildings in the southern suburbs, any precipitous Syrian military action there could endanger them. Some Western diplomats held out hope that the growing Syrian pressure on Hizballah could provide a new opportunity for the release of some hostages. Exploring that chance, Lieut. General Vernon Walters, U.S. Ambassador to the United...