Word: militiamen
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...factions, collapsed because they were unable to control the loosely organized and undisciplined militia nominally under their command. After the mid-January ceasefire negotiated by Karami (TIME, Jan. 26), for example, rightist forces in the capital, composed mostly of Phalangists, the "Tigers" of the National Liberal Party and neighborhood militiamen, attacked two Moslem slum areas, Karantina and Maslakh. Supported by mortars, recoilless rifles and rockets, the rightists pushed out the defenders last week and then leveled the remaining shanties with bulldozers. Scores of Moslems were killed and at least 6,000 were left homeless. Survivors claimed that there had been...
...mountainous region of Lebanon known as the Chouf. The area is home to two of Lebanon's best-known political leaders, Maronite Christian Camille Chamoun and Druze Kamal Jumblatt. Last week, in retaliation for a rightist Christian attack on a Palestinian refugee camp at Dbayeh, leftist and Druze militiamen, led by fedayeen officers, laid siege to Damur, an important road junction and rightist stronghold. For five days it was shelled by mortars and rockets. TIME Beirut Bureau Chief Karsten Prager visited the town after the shelling and house-to-house fighting ended. His report...
Except for the militiamen, who were gleeful and voluble in victory, the town was almost empty. Its defenders had retreated southward to regroup. Almost all civilians had fled to nearby Saadiyat, Chamoun's seaside estate, which was also surrounded by leftist troops. Later, a small fleet of yachts and coastal steamers picked up the thousands of refugees and carried them to Juniyah, a large Christian stronghold north of the capital...
Moslem and leftist militiamen responded to the rightist blockades with sieges against Christian villages. In the north, they surrounded Zgharta, the home town of Christian President Suleiman Franjieh; farther south, tough mountain warriors of the Moslem Druze sect pushed down the strategic coastal road into Damur...
...Lebanon, the hamlet of Kafr Tabnit was razed almost to the ground. Israeli military spokesmen said the targets were terrorist bases, including the headquarters of the Syrian-backed Saiqa guerrillas who are thought to be responsible for a Nov. 21 raid on the Golan Heights in which three Israeli militiamen were killed. Some form of Israeli reprisal had also been expected for a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem earlier in November that killed six people and wounded 46. The timing and intensity of last week's air strikes, however, led many observers to conclude that they were an expression...