Word: syrian
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...says a Baalbek housewife who witnessed the incident. "That night the Hizballah TV station showed a videotape of the tourists, and the commentator said, 'Look at this corruption, this sinful behavior.' But the tourists weren't dancing or singing. They just came to look." The city's several thousand Syrian troops tolerate Hizballah's activities but would probably intervene should the culture clash escalate. "The Syrians could make this place free," says a Baalbek merchant. "But this is Syria's gift to Iran...
...Kalashnikov in his lap, a Syrian soldier sits on a lawn chair in front of the monumental staircase leading into the ruins. The soldier smokes cigarettes, chews watermelon seeds, and jokes with the Syrian plainclothesmen who, like him, are there to keep peace...
Syria's response indicated that Damascus was outraged by the abduction. Syrian troops, joined by Lebanese forces, quickly mounted a search for Leyraud, checking cars halted at roadblocks erected every 25 yards in West Beirut. Damascus also delivered an ultimatum, warning that Leyraud must be set free within 48 hours or security forces would go door-to-door, raiding homes to find him. Shortly after the raids began, Lebanon's National News Agency reported on Sunday that Leyraud had been freed. An anonymous caller said the kidnappers had released the Frenchman to promote efforts to gain freedom for Lebanese prisoners...
...other wild card: the future of the Lebanese brothers Mohammed and Abbas Hammadi. The two members of a prominent Shi'ite family associated with Hizballah are imprisoned in Germany -- Mohammed for his part in the 1985 TWA hijacking, Abbas for the abduction of two German businessmen. Some Lebanese and Syrian officials believe that Leyraud's seizure was an attempt by a third Hammadi to secure the release of his brothers. Western intelligence officials say the Hammadi family has warned the leadership of Hizballah that it will release none of its hostages until the Hammadi brothers are set free...
...isolated. McCarthy's and Tracy's release may have been a desperate attempt to remind an inattentive international audience of the fundamentalists' agenda. But as the Leyraud abduction demonstrated, that agenda is fragmented and riddled by competing demands. Islamic Jihad may also have acted in hopes of preventing a Syrian disarming of fundamentalist camps in Lebanon and of gaining new respect from disaffected Shi'ites. Says Richard Murphy, former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs: "It's getting pretty lonesome these days to be a hostage holder...