Word: militiaization
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There was never much doubt that the Chouf, heartland of Lebanon's 250,000 Druze, who are members of a breakaway Islamic sect, would fall under control of the Druze militia, although the mountains are specked with Christian as well as Druze villages (see following story). The Druze militia has 30,000 fighters and, if pressed, could field thousands of irregulars. The Lebanese Forces, a Christian militia dominated by the Phalangists, have an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 fighters in the Chouf. This number could also be considerably increased, though at the moment many Christian families are sending...
Almost before anyone realized it, a minor incident had exploded into an all-out fight between the Lebanese army and the Shi'ite Amal militia. When the army moved into Amal strongholds in Beirut's southern suburbs, masked gunmen representing several Muslim factions took control of their neighborhoods in West Beirut, sending civilians scurrying to the safety of their homes. Armed with rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47 assault rifles and light mortars, they attacked Lebanese army guardposts, barracks and convoys. In response, the Lebanese army dispatched 10,000 troops, backed up by tanks and armored personnel carriers...
...followed by a speech in which Walesa boldly rebuked the government. When the authorities decided to broadcast the incident on national television, thousands of sympathizers around the country took to the streets. Walesa and other opposition leaders contrived to dampen the fervor of the crowds, and the militia managed to suppress the dissent without much difficulty. Still there was a message in last week's outbursts: though Solidarity may be nonexistent on paper, it is still very much alive in spirit...
...prepare for the withdrawal, the Israelis were busy building fortifications along the southern banks of the Awali last week. They angered the country's Christian Phalangists by ordering their militia to close at least one of its barracks near Sidon, south of the Awali. In response, thousands of Christians in southern Lebanon protested by closing their shops and building roadblocks of smoldering tires and barbed wire. With the Syrians still showing no signs that they are prepared to remove any of their 60,000 troops from Lebanese soil, the country once again faced the prospect of increasing violence, together...
...meantime, the rebellion against Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat from the ranks of his Fatah organization spread unexpectedly. Mutineers seized six Fatah military supply depots in the Damascus area. The mutiny was given a further boost by news that the commander of Fatah's civilian militia forces in Lebanon, Mousa Awad, had joined the rebels. Awad charged that Arafat and his supporters had been "deluded by American schemes." Heavy fighting reportedly broke out at week's end near the ancient city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon between Awad's men and troops loyal to Arafat...