Word: ites
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...limousine was forced to make an abrupt turn to weave its way slowly past a narrow, 3-ft-high stretch of concrete block. The V-shaped barricades took the place of three sand-filled dump trucks that had blocked the gate after threats had been received from Shi'ite groups. These are only the latest in a series of security measures aimed at better protecting the President and fortifying the White House against possible terrorist attacks...
...home, Assad has brought a stable government to a country that had rarely experienced that phenomenon before he came to power 13 years ago. His durability is especially noteworthy considering that Assad belongs to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that accounts for only 13% of his country's 9.6 million people (most of the rest are Sunni Muslims). Assad's long tenure has, however, been purchased at great cost. The regime cruelly silences opponents both at home and abroad, maintains a standing army of 275,000, and has five intelligence agencies to keep watch...
...terrorists who launched suicidal attacks against the American and French headquarters in Beirut and Israeli army ofr fices in Tyre two months ago. Based hi Baalbek, which is in Syrian-controlled eastern Lebanon, the Iranians acted under the auspices of Islamic Amal, a radical Shi'ite Muslim militia that broke away from the larger and more moderate Amal organization in early 1982. But they could not have undertaken the murderous task if Syria had disapproved. Says a Western diplomat: "The Syrians did not control and organize the operations, but certain elements in the Syrian regime knew what was going...
Despite their radically different habits, Rifaat and Hafez Assad share the same political goals. As members of the Alawite branch of Shi'ite Islam, both are determined to preserve the sect's control. The Alawites have dominated Syria for 13 years, mostly because of the adamantine grip of Hafez
Musawi's headquarters soon attracted other zealots, including the Hizballah (Party of God), a group of fanatical pro-Khomeini Shi'ite clerics. During last year's Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, Musawi was joined by 300 Iranian Revolutionary Guards who had entered the country through Syria with the avowed intention of battling the Israelis. Instead, the Guards stayed in Baalbek to help Musawi consolidate his grip. As the number of Guards grew to some 1,000 during the next few months, they transformed the city and its environs into a miniature Iranian state. They lectured the locals...