Word: militia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...main reason for the nerve-racking 24-hour delay in the release of the hostages was a last-minute demand by Nabih Berri, leader of the Amal militia, that Washington give assurances there would be no retaliation by the U.S. or Israel against the Shi'ites after the hostages were set free. Amal spokesmen conveyed their anger at some remarkably ill-timed remarks on Friday by Reagan. In the speech in Chicago Heights, Ill., the President called the captors "murderers and barbarians," adding ominously: "Terrorists, and those who support them, must and will be held to account...
Another serious obstacle that developed on Saturday morning was that Berri's militia did not have control over four of the captives, who were being held by Shi'ite extremists of Hizballah (Party...
After the hostages had been reunited on Sunday, the four confirmed that they had been removed from the aircraft on its second visit to Beirut and were not part of the group that had been taken into custody by the Amal militia. The hostages said that they had been detained for the first nine days in what they called "a bunker" in the Bekaa Valley. The first time they had seen the other hostages was last Tuesday night when they were brought to Beirut for a visit by Red Cross officials. "We were pretty frightened," admitted Robert Trautmann...
...hostages, only 31 of whom answered "here" or "present." Three of those absent were not a cause of alarm. They were the crewmen of the TWA jet, who had been kept in the aircraft most of the time and were known to be in the hands of the Amal militia. But the other four should have been at the school. After the roll call, the hostages sat next to their bags and waited. And waited...
...pragmatism that pursues whatever is in Syria's, and by extension Assad's, best interests. In the Beirut crisis, as it happens, Syria's interests coincided with America's. Both countries were anxious to end the hostage stalemate under terms that bolstered the position of Nabih Berri, the Amal militia leader who in effect hijacked the Americans from their original hijackers. For Assad, Berri and his Amal movement play a vital role in Assad's long campaign to become power broker and peacemaker among Lebanon's warring factions. While Amal currently commands the allegiance of most of Lebanon's estimated...