Word: lebanonization
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...dares say it out loud. But hopes are rising that some or all of the 15 hostages (nine of them American) being held by terrorists in Lebanon may at last be freed. Not tomorrow; a senior British diplomat predicts that the process of arranging a release will require "months rather than weeks." But he quickly adds that freedom might be expected in "months rather than years." Subject, that is, to one gargantuan if: the terrorists and their mentors in the government of Iran for once must refrain from posing financial or political ransom demands that would force Washington, London...
...bloody operations. Thus the U.S. is fully ) justified in negotiating only with the sovereign governments that back terrorists, even though that policy may result in dragging out the captivity of the hostages for agonizing months. Accounts differ as to how much control Iran has over the Muslim extremists in Lebanon. West German experience indicates that it is strong but not absolute; Bonn officials hint that Tehran had to exert heavy pressure for months on the terrorists to get them to let Cordes...
Such a deal that is not quite a deal could take many months to arrange. But the U.S. had better evolve a policy that goes beyond an endless intoning of - "No concessions." Whatever the fate of the hostages now held in Lebanon, the sad likelihood is that there will be other hostages in coming years to test the inventiveness of American diplomacy...
...midnight Thursday, Gemayel's six-year presidential term expired. With Lebanon's fractious Christians and Muslims unable to agree on a candidate to succeed him, Gemayel asked a fellow Christian, army commander Michel Aoun, to head a transitional government of six military officers. The maneuver failed, however, because the three Muslim appointees refused to participate...
...fight over succession really began in mid-August, just before the scheduled parliamentary election, when former President Sulieman Franjieh, 78, a close friend of Syrian President Hafez Assad, announced his candidacy. Assad, whose 40,000 troops in Lebanon reinforce his claim to be the country's dominant power broker, has been pressing for political reforms that would ensure a more equitable distribution of influence between Christians and Muslims. Muslims constitute an estimated 55% of the population. By tradition, the President has always been a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of the National Assembly...