But his often bitter words against the current government have made him a target of hard-line religious leaders.

During the night, television had repeatedly broadcast film of the most prominent hard-line military leaders ordering their men to "defend the nation" against protesters.

The fact that many hard-line political leaders are also clerics complicates the situation.

The hard-line military leaders had forced Japan into a position from which there was no exit but war."

China's hard-line leaders know that the pressure Mr. Bush is putting on them is real enough.

He has been called a "longtime hard-line ideological leader".

An entire people should not be punished for the sins of its hard-line Communist leaders.

A5 A Serbian enclave votes to oust its hard-line leader.

Some Chinese who know him say he, too, favors economic change, but neither appointee has said anything different than other hard-line leaders.

A small core of hard-line leaders remains, along with several hundred fighters, and they could hold out for months to come.