Word: militiaization
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...slayings were just another episode in what has become almost routine violence in the southern third of Lebanon, where the largely Shi'ite Muslim population's resentment of both the Israelis and the Christian militia grows by the day. It is an area that has bred small cells of violent fanatics, including, Israeli officials say, adherents of the Islamic Jihad, or Islamic Holy War, who claimed responsibility for the embassy bombing. The mounting tension between the occupying Israelis and the Shi'ite population was emphasized by Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin last week when he said...
Ultimately, the Israelis hope to turn over the region to the Army of Southern Lebanon, the militia founded by Major Saad Haddad. After Haddad died of cancer last January, the command was taken over by General Antoine Lahd, 55, a Maronite Christian who had served for years in the regular Lebanese Army. Lahd oversees a 2,100-strong force, trained and supplied by the Israelis, but he admitted to TIME that he would probably need at least 5,000 men to police southern Lebanon effectively. Recruitment is slow: only 128 Lebanese signed up for the latest five-week training course...
...protesters sought not revenge but peace of mind, to go to bed at night knowing the fate of their dearest. "Both my husband and my eldest son disappeared eight years ago," said Fatmi Hassan, 54, proffering two smudged black-and-white photos as proof. "The Christian militia took them away. If they are alive, I want them back. If they are dead, I want to know they are dead." Said Jamal Khoury, a Christian whose husband was last seen in the Chouf Mountains in September: "He must be dead, but there is something inside you that...
Even last week's accomplishment almost never came about. After hand-picking Karami, a Sunni Muslim, in April, the Syrians pressured Lebanon's warlords into joining his Cabinet. Its meetings, however, took place against a backdrop of daily artillery duels between rival militias. As the fighting grew worse, Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam met with the Cabinet at President Amin Gemayel's residence at Bikfaya. According to Lebanese officials, a furious Khaddam promised tough Syrian measures if no compromise was reached. A newly attentive Cabinet appointed a Maronite Christian to head the 25,000-man army...
...Militia commanders remain suspicious that the cease-fire will be used by their opponents only to consolidate positions before the next bout of warfare. While President Gemayel has accepted in principle reforms that would give the Muslims a bigger role in running Lebanon, the precise details have yet to be worked out. Unless progress comes quickly, rice and rose water could give way once again to rifles and revenge...