Word: militia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...negotiations on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon hinged to a large degree on a former Lebanese army major who was dishonorably discharged four years ago for desertion. The commander of a largely Christian militia in southern Lebanon, variously estimated at 1,000 to 2,000 men. Major Saad Haddad, 45, has controlled a ten-mile-wide strip along the Israeli border since 1978. He has provided a foothold in Lebanon for Israel, which has not only trained and equipped his forces but also paid him $12,000 a year to keep the territory free of Palestinian guerrillas seeking...
...eager to maintain order as it prepared for the visit of Pope John Paul II next month, was ready for trouble. Hundreds of helmeted riot policemen, each carrying a 24-inch white rubber baton filled with lead balls, had sealed off the area. They were supported by dozens of militia trucks, water cannons and armored personnel carriers. "Disperse!" boomed a shrill voice over a bullhorn. Shortly thereafter, the police attacked the crowd. Militiamen struck indiscriminately, beating an old woman with their sticks and kicking a plump man in work pants who had been knocked down in the melee. Some demonstrators...
...insist that the Israelis be allowed to take part only in "joint supervisory teams," with no military or police powers whatsoever. The Israelis, moreover, want the Lebanese force along the border to be under the control of Major Saad Haddad, a renegade Lebanese army officer whose 2,000-man militia has been supported by Jerusalem for the past seven years. The Lebanese may agree to take Haddad back into their ranks, but they refuse to let him run his own operation...
...reason: the police could not produce an arrest warrant. Said Walesa: "You should abide by the laws." Momentarily nonplussed, the police retreated, but they returned almost immediately to tell Walesa that they would take him away by force if necessary. Finally, Walesa was whisked to a militia headquarters for five hours of "conversations." Then, just as abruptly, he was released...
...scarcely deserve to be called a war. The forces involved are minor. On one side are perhaps 2,000 exiles, known as contras, who have slipped back into the country from bases in Honduras, where they were trained as guerrillas; on the other are a scattering of militia and border guards of Nicaragua's Marxist Sandinista government. Casualties in the past month total a few hundred, of whom many were peasants killed almost at random. But the political struggle touched off in Washington by this low-level fighting is escalating rapidly, especially in Congress. Said one Administration official last...