Word: muslims
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...exodus that has emptied East Beirut of more than two-thirds of its residents, were mowed down by Syrian machine guns as they tried to cross the bridges leading to Christian strongholds outside the city. Five other people were wounded as they attempted to cross the "green line" separating Muslim and Christian sections of Beirut. In effect, East Beirut was under siege: the 30,000-man Syrian peace-keeping force kept 3,500 Christian militiamen and 150,000 civilians bottled up within easy range of the heavy artillery that had pounded the city in the worst week of fighting since...
...economy. Under the "national covenant," an unwritten agreement with the force of constitutional law, the Lebanese presidency is reserved for a Maronite, while the less powerful posts of Prime Minister and president of the Chamber of Deputies are set aside for, respectively, a Sunni and a Shi'ite Muslim. The precarious balance between religious groups fell apart in 1970, when 15,000 well-armed Palestinian guerrillas were driven out of Jordan by King Hussein's "Black September" offensive. Joining 75,000 Palestinians already in the country, they turned southern Lebanon into a staging area for raids on Israel...
...itself came under fire from misdirected Syrian guns aiming at Christian strongholds in the hillsides-Sarkis made desperate efforts to invoke a truce. He announced a plan to replace the apolitical "Cabinet of technocrats" that has ruled Lebanon for two years with a new government composed of Christian and Muslim leaders. By week's end Sarkis, who had earlier declared that Lebanon was "on the verge of collapse," had been rudely rebuffed by virtually every important faction in Lebanese politics. Declared former President Camille Chamoun, Christian leader of the National Liberals: "There is nothing left but for Sarkis...
...persuade the Soviets to supply him with more arms and ammunition. The mission was fresh evidence of the heavy costs Syria had incurred since it intervened in Lebanon two years ago. Ironically, Assad's forces moved in to prevent the defeat of the Christian armies by radical Muslim and Palestinian commandos. Since then, however, the Syrians and the Christians have become bitter enemies because the Christians persist-against Assad's advice-in their efforts to partition Lebanon along sectarian lines. Since February more than 650 Syrian soldiers have perished in running battles with the militiamen, who receive guns...
Assad fears that the Christians might eventually link the portions of southern Lebanon under their control into a pro-Israeli buffer zone. Conversely, Israel fears that the defeat of Christian forces may leave Lebanon in the hands of radical Muslim leftists and Palestinians-in effect creating a new "confrontation" state. TIME has learned that two months ago, Assad attempted to cut his losses in Lebanon by bluntly demanding that the Christians make a final choice between Israel and the Arab states. Chamoun's reply: "We choose the Israelis." At that point Assad decided to cripple the militias...