Word: militiamen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Last week the Commodore's luck ran out. The hotel became a killing ground in the bitter, fierce struggle between two Syrian-backed groups, the Shi'ite Amal militia and a leftist coalition of Druze militiamen and fighters of the pro-Soviet Lebanese Communist Party. At midweek, after an all-night battle, the Druze, lobbing grenades and delivering armor-piercing rockets, stormed the hotel and drove the Shi'ites out. The floors and walls of the lobby were stained with blood, and gaping holes made by rockets scarred its walls. By the time the last guests and employees had fled...
...suburb of Muslim West Beirut as the week began. The moderate Shi'ite Amal militia blamed the blast on the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was driven out of Beirut during the 1982 Israeli invasion, and is now trying to make a comeback. Battles raged throughout the week between Amal militiamen and Palestinian fighters. In Beirut a relentless Amal blockade of Palestinian camps forced thousands of starving residents to adopt extreme measures to feed themselves (see box). In southern Lebanon, Israeli warplanes struck Palestinian guerrilla bases outside the port of Sidon...
Week after week, as warring militiamen fight for control of the war-torn city, the people of Beirut face the possibility of dying from car bombs, shelling or gunfire. Last week the inhabitants of two Beirut refugee camps confronted a new threat: starvation. The food shortage was the result of a long and bloody siege of Burj el-Barajneh and Shatila, Palestinian settlements on the southern edge of the city. Since October, the camps have been under attack by the Amal militia, a Syrian-backed Shi'ite Muslim group...
...free agent. Nabih Berri, leader of the relatively moderate Shi'ite Amal militia, said he had learned that Waite had been arrested but not kidnaped, a distinction that offered little solace. Walid Jumblatt, head of Lebanon's Druze community, felt so chagrined by the disappearance of Waite, whom his militiamen had tried to protect, he offered himself as a hostage in exchange. Asked by a Washington Post correspondent whether he regretted accepting the task of safeguarding Waite, Jumblatt replied, "It is not a question of regretting. We are living in a city of wolves...
...have gone to west Beirut's Mar Elias camp, controlled by Druse militiamen, who have stayed neutral in the fighting around Bourj el-Barajneh and the nearby Chatilla camp...