Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

AMAL • 19Amal’s notoriety as a terrorist group stems largely from a mistakenassociation between it and the rival Hezbollah, which carried out ahighly visible campaign of vehicle bombings, assassinations, andkidnappings against U.S. and other western targets in Lebanon. Bylate 1988 Amal had carried out 18 notable terrorist actions affectingnon-Lebanese nationals, including a major bombing, a hijacking,and six kidnappings. By contrast, Hezbollah from 1982 until late1988 had carried out 137 noteworthy terrorist acts, including 38bombings, 26 kidnappings, four hijackings, seven assassinations, andsix rocket attacks. Amal’s role in assuming custody of the hostagestaken in the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985 likewise was secondaryto that of Hezbollah in planning and carrying out the originalhijacking. Following the TWA Flight 847 incident, open warfareerupted between Hezbollah and Amal. Amal afterward acceptedSyria as its main foreign sponsor in place of Iran.After the end of the Lebanese civil war in October 1990, with thedefeat of Phalangist forces by the Syrian-backed forces of LebanesePresident Elias Hrawi, Amal joined forces with Hezbollah in acampaign of harassment and attrition against Israeli forces and alliedSouth Lebanese army forces in the south of Lebanon. Nabih Berri, thesecular politician who succeeded Imam Musa Sadr as leader of Amal,mended fences with Iran to the extent that he met with Iranian ForeignAffairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi and Majlis Speaker Ali AbkarNateq-Nouri on 15 September 1997 in Tehran, where he declared thatsouthern Lebanon would become “Israel’s Vietnam.” On 28 August1997 Israeli forces seeking a preemptive strike at Hezbollah and Amalpositions instead became trapped in the Wadi Hujuar canyon by crossfirefrom Amal and Hezbollah units. When the Israeli Golani Brigadecalled on their artillery to give them cover to enable a retreat, thebarrage instead ignited the dry scrub forest on the hillside, creating afirestorm that burned three of their members to death. On 6 September1997, when 16 members of the Israeli naval commando unit, Shayetet13, attempted a preemptive strike at Hezbollah positions in the villageof Ansariyah, midway between Sidon and Tyre, they were again surprisedby Amal and Hezbollah units waiting in place that had alreadyrigged a roadside bomb to ambush the Israeli unit. Supported by unitsof the Lebanese army, the joint Amal-Hezbollah units killed 11 of theIsraeli team in what was considered to be the worst defeat Israel hadsuffered in southern Lebanon since 1985.