According to Hamza Akl Hamieh, he volunteered at a young age for the
Amal Movement, which he said helped shape the mindset that later led him to join
Hezbollah. At around the age of twenty, he joined the leftist Muslim factions during the
Lebanese Civil War in
Beirut, and later fought against the
Israeli invasion of Lebanon (1978). Beginning in 1979 with his "Sons of Musa al-Sadr brigade", he became known among young Shi'ites, and his activities culminated in the hijacking of
Kuwait Airways Flight 561 in Beirut on 24 February 1982. Just 79 days earlier, he had completed the second longest hijacking in history, after commandeering
Libyan Arab Airlines 727 in midair between
Zurich and
Tripoli, flying 6,000 miles with multiple stops throughout Europe and the Middle East before landing in Lebanon three days later. As an Amal commander in the early 1980s Hamieh led many operations against the
Multinational Force in Lebanon. and an attack in January 1984 on airport positions. The
US intelligence mentions Hamza as a possible organizer of the
TWA flight hijacking Hamza Akl Hamieh served as military commander of Amal from 1984 to 1987, and left the movement in 1992. == Personal life ==