Word: syrians
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...Beirut. The Shi'ite Amal militia had set out in mid-May to seize control of three Palestinian refugee camps -- Sabra, Shatila and Burj el Barajneh -- to make certain that the P.L.O. would not regain the power it once had in Lebanon. Amal Leader Nabih Berri was convinced that Syrian-backed P.L.O. splinter groups opposed to Chairman Yasser Arafat would not assist beleaguered Arafat followers in the camps. Accordingly, Berri ordered 5,000 of his militiamen, aided by a predominantly Shi'ite brigade of the Lebanese Army, to storm the Palestinian strongholds. To his surprise, the Palestinians in the camps...
...remote corner of the airport and surrounded by blue-bereted Swiss security commandos, until the Israelis were flown in. The laborious exchange dragged out over eleven hours. At about the same time, 151 Arab prisoners were released by Israel on the Golan Heights and handed over to Syrian and Lebanese authorities, while 605 others were bused from jails in Israel and the Israeli- occupied territories to their hometowns in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. There they were greeted by cheering crowds. The following morning the plane carrying the released Israelis, a sergeant and two privates, touched down at Hatzor...
...Syrian determination to impose a settlement of the continuing civil war in Lebanon was also in evidence last week. Under intense pressure from Damascus, the Lebanese Forces, a 6,000-strong Christian militia, replaced its commander, Samir Geagea, with Elias Hobeika. Geagea had instigated a revolt last March against President Amin Gemayel, accusing him of doing Syria's bidding. Geagea's downfall was marked by intense fighting in Beirut along the "green line" dividing the Christian and the predominantly Muslim sectors. Hobeika is the man who led the Phalangists into the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps south of Beirut...
...troops left, villagers sang and danced in the streets, showering Lebanese soldiers with rice and flowers as they moved in. The pullback was a Syrian success of sorts--Syrian forces are remaining in Lebanon--but Damascus so far has refrained from moving its units into the territory abandoned by Israel. Said Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin as he watched the pullback: "I hope the Syrians understand we have certain limits, and we will not be able to stay on the sidelines if they exceed them." Earlier in the week the Israeli Cabinet had voted to complete the three-stage withdrawal...
...explosive day in April 1975, Christian militiamen ambushed a Palestinian bus in East Beirut, killing 37 passengers. That action is generally recognized as the incident that sparked the civil war. The present government of "national unity," set up last year under Syrian aegis, is virtually powerless, and the country continues to be beset by sectarian fighting, most seriously last week around the southern port city of Sidon. There, for the third week in a row, Christian militiamen battled Muslim units of the Lebanese Army and Muslim irregulars...