Berri Dissolves Unit in South After Mutiny

BEIRUT — Nabih Berri, leader of the Shia Muslim Amal militia, Friday dissolved the movement’s southern Lebanon command and dismissed several key officers after a mutiny that cost at least seven lives.

“Internal problems have arisen and we are dealing with them. These people who were fired were resorting to actions that contradict the principles of the movement,” an Amal spokesman said in Beirut.

He said that among those dismissed from the movement were Hassan Hashem, leader of the revolt, and three of his deputies.

“They have no more links with the movement, and all the belongings of the movement that were with them have to be handed over,” the statement said.

Still Some Strongholds

Berri’s loyalists Monday contained the Hashem-led revolt after two days of fighting in which at least seven people were killed. But the dissidents maintained control over several village strongholds in the south.

In a parallel move, Amal dissolved its southern Lebanon command but asked it to continue operating “until another decision is made.”

Among the Amal regional commanders who lost their posts in the leadership reshuffling were Daoud Daoud, militia boss of the Tyre region, and Mahmoud Fakih, in charge of the region around the port of Sidon.

Both leaders, despite links with the movement’s central command under Berri, have considerable autonomy in their regions, and there was no indication that would change, political sources said.

Action ‘a Reaction’

Hashem, 32, former head of the Amal executive council, was not immediately available for comment on the dismissal order but said Thursday that his action “was a reaction” to attacks on various villages in the south because of dissension between Amal officers.

Hashem said his revolt also was prompted by Amal’s inability to stop a number of assassinations, an apparent reference to the killing of Shia Communists in the south in recent weeks.

Berri, after a four-month stay in Damascus, Syria, returned to West Beirut on Monday, a week after more than 7,000 Syrian soldiers entered the capital to end three years of militia rule.

The Syrian intervention in West Beirut also paved the way for Wednesday’s deployment of hundreds of Lebanese soldiers along the key coastal highway from Beirut to southern Lebanon as part of a Syrian security plan.

Amal is Syria’s most powerful Muslim militia ally in Lebanon.