Word: moussa
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That began to change in the 1975 civil war. As other power-hungry factions oiled their guns, the Lebanese Shi'ite leader Imam Moussa Sadr formed the Amal (meaning hope in Arabic), originally intending it to be a political organization exerting pressure to better the lot of Shi'ites living in poverty in Beirut's southern suburbs. But in a country constantly at war, it quickly became clear that social and political change would be achieved only through military force. The Amal developed a military wing, fortifying the Shi'ite neighborhoods with sandbags and training youths...
When first word of all this got out during the debate on nationalization, the Socialists accused Paribas Chairman Pierre Moussa, 59, of what Premier Pierre Mauroy called a "shocking lack of civic spirit." In the ensuing scandal, Moussa was forced to resign...
...disclosed that Iran and Libya had agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations after a break of several years. The two countries had been especially at odds for the past year, following the disappearance and alleged assassination in Libya of the leader of Lebanon's Shi'ite community, Imam Moussa Sadr. The reconciliation was interpreted as a victory for the hardline Muslim radicals in the Iranian leadership, who have been arguing for closer ties with Libya in spite of the Moussa Sadr affair...
Where is he? That question, in bold Arabic script, was written across posters displayed on walls throughout the Muslim areas of Lebanon last week. They portrayed Imam Moussa Sadr, 50, the beloved leader of the country's 900,000-strong Shi'ite Muslim community, who inexplicably disappeared in late August. So long as the question of his whereabouts remained unanswered, the mystery of the missing Imam threatened to trouble relations between Lebanon, Libya and Iran-and possibly other nations as well...
Whatever the explanation of Moussa Sadr's disappearance, troubled Lebanon had lost a potent moderating force in the Imam. As a political as well as spiritual leader of the country's most impoverished community, he had founded technical schools, sports centers and medical clinics for the poor. He had repeatedly attempted to head off bloody sectarian strife. In 1975, during the Lebanese civil war, he interrupted an antiwar hunger strike to persuade Muslim guerrillas to lift the siege of a Christian village, and thus averted a massacre. Last week many of his followers were praying that Moussa Sadr...