Word: militiaization
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...then adorned with the messianic title of Imam, Moussa Sadr established and funded a Shi'ite militia named Amal, the Arabic word for "hope." Celebrating the deeds of Shi'ite warriors of the past, the Imam declared, "Arms were the adornment of men." Moussa Sadr then vanished in a manner guaranteed to immortalize him to his followers. On a visit to Libya in 1978, he simply disappeared. Many Shi'ites still believe that he remains the captive of Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi...
...such group, called Islamic Amal, broke away in 1982 and set up headquarters in the eastern town of Baalbek under the leadership of Hussein Musawi, a former schoolteacher and pro-Iranian fanatic. Soon thereafter Iran sent hundreds of Revolutionary Guards into the Bekaa Valley to train an Islamic Amal militia and help Musawi consolidate his power...
...East Beirut, where a single Christian militia maintains a surprising degree of control, life seems relatively calm. But in Muslim-controlled West Beirut -- across the barricaded "green line," a swath of no-man's-land that divides the city between east and west -- gunmen from various Shi'ite and Sunni factions rule the streets. Neighborhoods in this area, where the American hostages are presumably being held, often change hands from week to week in the endless fighting among factions...
...traffic these days. It is occasionally possible to protest to whatever militiamen control the neighborhood; they sometimes catch a criminal and deal out rough justice. Then again, the robbers might be their comrades. For self-protection, many Beiruti men -- even if they , are not affiliated with one or another militia -- carry guns tucked under their belts, and women have neat little .38s stashed away in their purses...
...does all that make Berri, leader of the Shi'ite Amal militia, the ideal man to negotiate release of the American hostages? Not by a long shot. President Reagan declared last week, with a snap of his fingers, that Berri "could be the solution that quickly." Berri, however, seemed closer to the mark when he told CBS's Dan Rather that he was in "a very delicate situation." He seems, indeed, to be a man riding a tiger, a leader scrambling to talk and act as radically as his followers...