Armed terrorists (pistol&grenades) took control of the plane forcing the pilot to fly to Beirut for fuel (let most of the women and children off the plane here)
After filling up, flew to Algiers (neutral country where no body was going to attack them) issued their demands and let more passengers off and flew back to Beirut
When the plane landed in Beirut, a passenger was shot in the head and the gunman restated their threat and demands and took off to Algiers again..an accomplice was captured and traded for passengers
Flying back to Beirut, they freed all the passengers with Jewish sounding names sending one with a message for President Reagan to refrain from any direct military action
They put their terrorists militia on alert sealing off the airport...40 hostages are still held captive
"If any action is taken to rescue them, they(hostages) will all be dead men" stated by the pilot
The hijackers supporters storm on to the runway chanting "Death to America, death to Israel"
In a negotiation, the remaining hostages were transferred to Damascus where they would be set free as long as militia wouldn't retaliate and the 700 some prisoners were set free.
The terrorists had a list of demands, which included the release of those involved in the 1983 bombing of U.S. Embassy Beirut.
They wanted the 700 prisoners that were being held captive in Israel.
The terrorists quarantined the passengers with Jewish sounding names, because Judaism was a major religion in Israel where the prisoners were being held captive.